Credit to Brandon Collins | Associate Director, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
KNOXVILLE – The Texas A&M women’s basketball team was unable to capitalize on a season-best scoring performance by freshman Solè Williams in Thursday’s 75-66 loss to the Tennessee Lady Vols inside Food City Center.
Williams paced the Aggies with 20 points on 8-of-12 (66.7%) shooting from the field, including 4-of-6 (66.7%) from long distance.
Janiah Barker logged 12 points, four rebounds, two steals in 16 minutes. Sahara Jones added 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. Aicha Coulibaly registered eight points, five rebounds and five steals.
For the second consecutive game, the Aggies, who entered the fray with a +9.8-rebounding margin, were on the wrong side of a wide disparity. The Lady Vols outboarded Texas A&M, 44-29.
Tennessee (17-10, 10-5 SEC) benefitted from the officials’ whistles with Barker and Lauren Ware both drawing their fourth foul of the game by the 6:41 mark of the third quarter. The duo, which averages a combined 54.1 minutes per game, totaled just 35 minutes on the floor Thursday. The Lady Vols capitalized on a sizeable gap in trips to the charity stripe, hitting 14-of-17 (82.4%). Texas A&M (18-10, 6-9 SEC) was 5-of-7 (71.4%) at the foul line and did not shoot a free throw in the first half.
Texas A&M’s defense struggled to corral Tennessee in the first quarter. The Lady Vols hit 50.0% (9-of-18) from the field, including 60.0% (3-of-5) from 3-point range. The Maroon & White kept it close before UT outscored the Aggies 11-4 in the final 4:34 of the period.
Tennessee inflated its cushion to 32-22 at the 4:22 mark of the second quarter, but Jones scored seven points in a span of 91 seconds to shave the deficit to 32-29 with 2:29 left until halftime. The Lady Vols scored the last four points of the half to go into the locker room up 36-29.
Williams kept Texas A&M in the fight midway through third quarter. Tennessee stretched the gap to 47-34 at the 6:16, before Williams accounted for all of the Aggies’ points in a 11-2 surge. After three consecutive 3-point field goals, she converted a layup to trim UT’s lead to 49-45. The Lady Vols responded with an 11-2 burst of their own before Coulibaly made a layup at the buzzer as Tennessee carried a 60-49 advantage into the last break.
The Lady Vols’ edge stretched to 70-52 at the 5:41 mark before the Aggies made their last charge. Barker and Jones accounted for all the points in a 9-0 run, deflating the UT cushion to 70-61 with 2:33 remaining in the game. Tennessee scored the next five points to put the game out of reach.
Up Next
The Aggies return to Reed Arena for Senior Day against Alabama on Sunday, March 3, at 2 p.m.
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
Texas A&M is now 8-11 versus Tennessee all-time.
Joni Taylor’s career record falls to 167-106 all-time and to 27-30 in her two seasons with the Aggies.
TEAM NOTES
Registered the most points off turnovers during conference play this season, converting 22 points on 17 forced turnovers.
Texas A&M began with a starting lineup of Kay Kay Green, Aicha Coulibaly, Sahara Jones, Janiah Barker and Lauren Ware (1-4).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Aicha Coulibaly
Has recorded multiple steals in four-straight games and the 20th game this season.
Janiah Barker
Logged the 17th double-digit game of her sophomore campaign, pouring in 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field.
Solè Williams
Posted a career-high 20 points, shooting 8-of-12 from the field and 4-of-6 from deep. Matched the most threes made in a single game (4) of her career.
Williams registered a stretch that spanned the second and third quarters where she accounted for 16 of A&M’s 20 points.