COLLEGE STATION- The No. 9 Texas A&M women’s basketball team outscored LSU by the score of 37-23 in the second half to secure a 55-48 win over the Tigers on Sunday afternoon at Reed Arena.
The Aggies (15-3, 3-1 SEC) found themselves down 25-18 at the break, but scored the first five points of the second half, and eventually tied the score at 31 with 14:28 to play.
After the sides traded leads five times, LSU (8-8, 2-2 SEC) had a chance to tie with just under a minute to play, down 50-48. Achiri Ade stole the ball for A&M, tossed an outlet to Jordan Jones who hit a breaking Curtyce Knox for an easy layup with 24.6 to play. A&M would hit three free throws in the closing seconds to win by a score of 55-48.
Jordan Jones led the Aggies with 12 points, and added eight assists, including the key game-clinching pass to Knox, who joined Jones in double figures with a career-high 10.
Ade continued to clean the glass in SEC play with 13 rebounds on the afternoon. Ade became the first player since A&M’s Kelsey Bone in 2013 to have 10+ rebounds in the first four SEC games for any league team. She leads the league with 12.3 rebounds per game in league play.
The Aggies return to the Reed Arena floor on Sunday, January 18 at 4 p.m. to host Ole Miss in a game televised on SEC Network.
GAME NOTES
• Texas A&M has now won 12 straight games at home, dating back to last season
• The Aggies have won 22 straight games against unranked teams at home
• Jordan Jones scored in double figures for the ninth time this season and 17th time in her career. It is her first double-digit scoring game since Dec. 21
• Jones also added eight assists to her SEC-leading total
• Achiri Ade has had 10+ rebounds in each of the first four SEC games this season, making her the second Aggie do accomplish the feat, joining Kelsey Bone (2012-13)
• Ade has 10+ rebounds in seven games this season and 12 times in her career.
• Ade has averaged 12.3 rebounds during SEC play
• Curtyce Knox had a career-high 10 points. It is her first career double-figure scoring game.
• Courtney Walker passed Jenni Edgar (1981-85, 488) for ninth on the Texas A&M career field goals made list with 491 for her career. Next on the list, in eighth, is Danielle Adams (2009-11, 517)
• The Aggies are now 184-69 at Reed Arena and 9-0 at home this season
• Gary Blair is 687-275 in his career and 279-112 at Texas A&M
• Texas A&M is now 15-3 on the season and 3-1 in SEC play. LSU is 8-8 and 2-2 in SEC play.
Postgame Quotes
Texas A&M guard Curtyce Knox
On her 3 pointer…
“It’s just about having the confidence to shoot the three. I know early in this season we haven’t been consistent with our three point shoot. We’ve been working on it in practice. And I think it’s really paid off in the game.”
On all the turnovers in the game…”I just think they had more energy than us starting off. It was very important for us to come out hard in the second half, play hard, and with energy. And play for Coach Blair. I really think we disappointed him and our fans being at home we didn’t bring as much energy as we needed to.”
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening statement…
“I think our kids responded. There was no X’s-and-O’s on the board at halftime. There were no set plays, not set tricks, there was no nothing. I wanted to find out who would compete and who would press for 20 minutes when you don’t have your good game. And we had no game. You have to find a way to win. It all starts with Jordan Jones and Achiri Ade. Curtyce came in and gave us some big minutes and a couple of big baskets that we had to have. Tori Scott and Chelsea were doing their thing over there. Williams at the end of the game hit the biggest basket when we were up two and she got it to four. Sometimes the best motivation in the whole world is to sit somebody on the bench and hopefully they’ll realize how hard you have to play to be a big time player in the SEC. We got fortunate at the end. I thought they missed some shots that they normally hit. They were rebounding with five. And we were trying to rebound with five. Achiri was most of the time in there by herself just trying to get loose balls. Right now until we get better we need to have the warrior mentality. Right now we are not a very pretty basketball team on offense. And since I’m in charge of the offense I’m not a very pretty coach right now. So I have to instill the press. The press has to create offense. Offensive rebound, which we did well in the second half. And just gut checks. How many times are you just going to win with William’s and Walker both having off nights? You do it because we are Aggies next man up.”
On Knox stepping up…
“We’ve been waiting for a while. She hadn’t hit a 3 pointer I think since the first game of the year. And I kept telling her against that pack ten zone when we rotate the basketball you have to take the shoot. You’ve got to have confidence. And I thought the kid responded and did a good in there. Give her credit.”
Texas A&M forward Achiri Ade
On her rebounds…
“As usual just finding the body and boxing out. That’s the main key. We were struggling with shooting so my main thing was there was going to be long rebounds because we were shooting from outside. So trying to get from under the rim and trying to get outside so I could get the rebounds that go along.”
LSU Head Coach Nikki Caldwell
On the game…
“I thought A&M did a nice job at picking up their defensive intensity. They really pushed tempo in the second half really tried to get some transition baskets. They were able to capitalize off some of our turnovers. It definitely was a swing in energy plays if you will. I thought our energy from the first half to the second half was night and day. The first half we played with a lot of effort, hustled plays, contested every shot attempt they made, really battled. And in the second half we went away from that. If the game was for 20 minutes we would have won. But it’s a 40 minute basketball game. And we’ve been really stressing to the team that you’ve got to play for 40 minutes, it cannot be a 20, 30 minute game. It’s got to be a complete 40 minute game all out. And we failed short of our goal.”
LSU forward Shelia Boykin
On getting boxed out…
“Achiri Ade did a really good job of challenging us on the boards. She was a hard body to box out. But at the same time, boxing out isn’t just a one person responsibility on our defensive end, it’s a team effort.”