Credit to Brandon Collins | Associate Director, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M women’s basketball team dominated the Prairie View A&M Panthers, 88-36, Wednesday inside Reed Arena to extend its win streak to nine games.
The stretch of victories is the longest for Texas A&M (11-1) since an 11-game streak running from January 17-March 5, 2021. On the heels of their 95-45 victory over Mississippi Valley State, the Aggies won back-to-back games by 50-plus points for the first time since November 2006.
The Aggies recorded a season-high 17 steals as the Panthers were on the wrong end of a 27-9 turnover disparity. The Maroon & White turned it into a 32-7 edge in points off turnovers. Texas A&M also posted huge advantages in fastbreak points (29-5) and points in the paint (44-18).
Aicha Coulibaly paced the Aggies with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. She added three rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Sahara Jones registered a career-high five assists to go along with six rebounds and six points.
Lauren Ware came up just shy of her eighth double-double of the season with 14 points, on 5-of-9 from the field, and eight rebounds.
Janiah Barker nabbed a season-high four steals. She finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot.
Solè Williams gave the Aggies four players with double digits in the scoring column with 11 points.
Jones needed just 6:20 to equal her career high with four assists as the Aggies built a 21-7 lead after one quarter. Ware paced A&M with seven rebounds and three assists in the first stanza.
After Prairie View scored the initial basket of the second quarter, the Maroon & White blitzed the Panthers with a 24-3 run for the remainder of the half to take a 45-14 lead into halftime. The Aggies assisted on 14 of their 19 first half field goals en route to shooting 52.8%.
Any thoughts of a Prairie View comeback were put to rest when Ol’ Sarge’s charges started the second half on a 12-0 run, inflating the cushion to 57-14 and never looking back. The Aggies secured the 88-36 victory and their ninth straight win.
Up Next
The Aggies take a break from hoops over the holiday season until they return to the court on Dec. 31 versus A&M-Commerce at 2 p.m. inside Reed Arena.
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
Texas A&M is now 23-2 against the Panthers in their 25 matchups.
Joni Taylor’s career record advances to 160-96 all-time and to 20-21 in her two seasons with the Aggies.
TEAM NOTES
The Maroon & White extends its winning streak to nine games to match its longest streak since the start of the 2021-22 season. The Aggies have outscored their opponents by an average of 34.6 points during the streak.
The Aggies came in with the No. 4 scoring defense in the nation (48.7) and continued their strong defense by only allowing Prairie View to score 36 points.
Texas A&M entered the match ranked No. 4 in the nation in field goal percentage defense (31.7%) and kept up their stifling defense by holding the Panthers to just 24.0% shooting (12-50) from the field and 20% (3-15) from three. This is the sixth time this season the Maroon & White has held its opponent to less than 30% shooting.
The Aggies won back-to-back games by 50 points for the first time since November of 2006 after their 52-point victory over Prairie View (88-36) and their 50-point victory over MVSU (95-45).
The Maroon & White forced the Panthers into 27 turnovers and stole the ball a season-high 17 times.
Texas A&M outscored the Panthers by 26 points in the paint (44-18) which marks the fifth time this season the Aggies have outscored their opponent by over 20 paint points.
The Aggies held Prairie View to under 10 points in each of the first three quarters of the game and only five points in the second quarter. A&M has now allowed five-points-or-less in three quarters this season.
The Aggies’ plus-18 turnover advantage (9-27) led to 32 points-off-turnovers and 29 fast break points compared to only seven and five respectively by the Panthers.
For the seventh time this season four Aggies scored in double-digits with Coulibaly (15), Ware (14), Williams (11) and Barker (10).
Texas A&M began with a starting lineup of Endyia Rogers, Aicha Coulibaly, Sahara Jones, Janiah Barker and Lauren Ware. (11-1)
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Aicha Coulibaly
Led the Aggies in scoring with 15 points on 6-10 (60%) shooting from the field.
Sahara Jones
Recorded a new career-high in assists with five.
Janiah Barker
Recorded a season-high four steals.
Solè Williams
Led the Aggies in scoring off the bench with 11 points and three 3-pointers.
Tineya Hylton
Matched her career-high in steals with three.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Joni Taylor
On forcing 27 turnovers during the game…
“I think that we were pretty disciplined in what we did. We wanted to take them out of their offense. Sandy (Pugh) does a really good job on stuff that they run, and she’s got really good players, who if you let them get to their spots and just pass and catch and get to where they wanna go, it makes it really difficult. She’s got three high-level transfers who can really take you in space. So, I thought where we were really good in helping and rotating on defense.”
On the depth of the team…
“I think our depth is good. We’ve got players coming off the bench who could be starting other places. And so, that just speaks to their humility and selfless service in terms of how they wanna be for the team. I think that they all understand what their role is, and they come in and do their part night in and night out.”
Junior Forward Lauren Ware
On different rotations throughout the game…
“I think it’s great. It gives our bench the ability to have some minutes and get that experience. I think that’s kind of the biggest thing going into conference play. Especially with a new team like us, we have a lot of freshmen and transfers. With games like this, we can mix up different lineups and everybody gets to play together.”
Senior Guard Sahara Jones
On the difference between this time last year and now…
“It feels really good, we’re winning. The people that I’m around are really fun and we love to win, and we love to come to practice every day. We love seeing each other 24/7 and we just get along so well. We have great chemistry and we want have fun when we get on the court.”