Credit to Brandon Collins | Associate Director, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M women’s basketball team maintained its perfect home record on the season, bludgeoning the Auburn Tigers, 66-44, to earn the program’s 300th victory at Reed Arena.
The Aggies have made Reed Arena a fortress during the 2023-24 campaign, posting a 10-0 record on Gary Blair Court.
Texas A&M (13-2, 1-1 SEC) beat an SEC opponent by 20-plus points for the first time since a 69-41 victory over Mississippi State on Jan. 17, 2021.
The Aggies owned a 43-29 rebounding edge, including a 24-14 margin in the second half. The Maroon & White were on the good side of a 40-20 gap in points in the paint. Texas A&M held an opponent under 50 points for the sixth time on the season and the fourth time in the last six games.
Janiah Barker registered her seventh double-double of the season with 13 points, on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, and a game-high 10 rebounds. The sophomore added two steals, one block and one assist.
In her first game against her former squad, Aicha Coulibaly paced the Aggies with 14 points and added five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Endyia Rogers logged 12 points, two assists, two steals and a rebound running the point.
Buoyed by a pair of old-fashioned 3-point plays courtesy of Rogers, Texas A&M was up 17-9 after the first quarter. Her first layup and free throw combo gave the Aggies a 9-5 edge at the 4:16 mark and she added another with 1:34 remaining in the period to inflate the cushion to 16-9.
After Auburn (11-4, 0-2 SEC) scored the initial bucket of the second quarter, Texas A&M responded with an 11-2 run, staking claim to a 28-13 advantage, its largest of the half. The Tigers shaved the deficit down the stretch, trailing 32-20 at halftime. The Maroon & White boasted a .520-.276 advantage in field goal percentage in the first half. The Aggies held Auburn to 8-of-29 from the field, including 1-of-6 from 3-point range.
Texas A&M used the charity stripe to stretch its advantage to 43-25 at the 4:53 mark of the third quarter. The Maroon & White made 7-of-8 from the foul line to start the quarter. Late layups by Solè Williams and Coulibaly put Ol’ Sarge’s charges up 49-29 heading into the final intermission.
The Tigers’ hopes for a fourth quarter comeback were put to bed when Tineya Hylton made back-to-back fast break buckets, widening the gap to 58-33 in favor of Texas A&M.
Last season, the Maroon & White needed eight games to register their first SEC win of the season.
Up Next
The Aggies will travel to LSU to take on the Tigers on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m.
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
Texas A&M is now 17-1 against Auburn all-time.
Joni Taylor’s career record advances to 162-97 all-time and to 22-22 in her two seasons with the Aggies.
The Aggies secured their 300th victory inside Reed Arena, which opened at the start of the 1998-99 season.
TEAM NOTES
The Maroon & White held the tigers to just nine points in the first and third quarters, which marks the 16th time this season the Aggies have held an opponent to less than 10 points in a quarter.
The Aggies came into the game with the No. 3 field goal percentage defense in the nation (31.5%) and continued that against the Tigers holding them to 30.6% (15-49) from the field.
Texas A&M finished with a 22-point victory (66-44). The last time the Aggies beat an SEC opponent by 20+ points was on Jan. 17, 2021, against Mississippi State (69-41).
The Maroon & White, which ranked No. 2 in the nation in scoring defense (49.2) coming into the bout, forced Auburn into its lowest scoring game of the season, holding it to just 44 points. The Tigers came into the game averaging 69.8 points per contest.
Texas A&M began with a starting lineup of Endyia Rogers, Aicha Coulibaly, Sahara Jones, Janiah Barker and Lauren Ware (13-2).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Janiah Barker
Recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Aicha Coulibaly
Led the Aggies in scoring with 14 points on 5-9 (55.6%) shooting from the field.
A&M is 5-0 when Coulibaly leads the team in scoring.
Kay Kay Green
Led the team in assists for the third time this season with four.
The Aggies are 3-0 when Green leads the team in assists.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Joni Taylor
On the defensive effort…
“We gave up too many points in the first quarter on Thursday. With that being said, when you hold a team to 54 points, you should be able to win it. But I thought our defense was exceptional, especially our perimeter. Johnnie (Harris) has a really good team and she’s got a talented group of guards. And so, when you watch them on film, you sit up straight because if you’re not locked in, they can kind of have their way. I think our perimeter players were really sound defensively and forced them into really tough contested shots.”
On dominating the paint…
“The ball doesn’t have to be scored in the paint, but it needs to touch the paint. And so, we were able to get penetration today a couple of times. We got it into the paint and then kicked it out because it collapsed things. I was really happy with that. We wanted to get the ball inside, but it came from penetration as well. They got downhill and after that happened, we were able to then get in the paint and kick it out and find some shooters or make the extra pass.”
Senior Forward Aicha Coulibaly
On playing against her former team…
“It was kind of emotional. I played with that team for two years and you know, I just had to do what I needed to do no matter what. We’re friends off the court, but on the court it’s game time.”
Sophomore Forward Janiah Barker
On the offensive efficiency…
“Something Joni talked about at the beginning of the season was that we’re not a team that’s going to have one person score 20 or 30 each game. There’s a lot of people on the team that can score. We contributed in the best way to that because we didn’t rush on offense, and nothing was forced. That’s why our field goal percentage is better because we’re taking the shots that are best for us.”
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