A&M Women’s Basketball Takes Down Western Michigan

News release from Texas A&M Athletics:

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – The Texas A&M women’s basketball team combined an outstanding shooting performance and stifling defense to record the 900th victory in program history with Sunday’s 86-38 rout of the Western Michigan Broncos inside Reed Arena.

Evidence of the domination was visible all throughout the stat sheet. The Aggies owned a 57.1-21.7% edge in field goal shooting for the game, including 50.0-12.5% from 3-point range. The Maroon & White hit 32-of-56 from the field, including 10-of-20 from beyond the arc. Western Michigan was limited to 13-of-60 from the field, including 3-of-24 from long range.

Texas A&M owned an eye-popping 22-4 edge in points off turnovers. The Maroon & White defense forced 19 turnovers, including 13 steals. The Aggies also owned a 43-31 rebounding margin and 34-18 edge in points in the paint.

Five players reached double digits in the scoring column for the Aggies as they logged 20-plus points in all four quarters for the first time in the Joni Taylor era.

Kyndall Hunter produced a game-high 18 points on 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point range. She added career highs with four rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Sahara Jones turned in her first double-double of the season and the third of her career. She matched a season-high with 16 points and pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds. Jones added four assists.

Taliyah Parker tallied the first double-digit scoring effort of her career with 13 points. She tacked on four assists, three rebounds and a steal.

Aicha Coulibaly and Janae Kent logged 11 points apiece. Coulibaly blocked a career-high four shots while adding five rebounds, four steals and two assists. In addition to her career-high in points, Kent contributed three rebounds, two blocks and an assist.

To open the game, the Aggies shot 9-of-13 (69.2%) from the field for their most productive quarter of the early season. With an 8-7 lead at the midway point of the period, Parker scored seven points in a 13-3 run which gave the Maroon & White a 21-10 lead at the first break.

The A&M defense intensified in the second quarter, holding Western Michigan to 3-of-14 (21.4%) from the field while forcing nine turnovers. The Aggies outscored the Broncos 21-7 in the quarter and carried a 42-17 advantage into the locker room.

The Maroon & White continued the domination in the third quarter, playing without committing a turnover while outscoring WMU 21-19. The Aggies again held the Broncos to a dismal shooting display, holding Western Michigan to 3-of-15 (20.0%) en route to inflating the cushion to 63-26.

The closest Western Michigan would get in the fourth quarter was at the 3:46 mark, shaving the lead to 37 points at 71-34. Parker responded with three field goals in a span of 42 seconds to break the Broncos’ spirit.

The Aggies return to the court Friday, Nov. 15 when they travel to West Virginia for their first road test of the season.

POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES

  • Texas A&M is now 1-0 versus the Broncos all-time.
  • Joni Taylor’s career record moves to 170-109 all-time and to 30-34 in her three seasons with the Aggies.
  • The Aggies recorded the 900th victory in program history.

 

TEAM NOTES

  • The Aggies are now 26-1 when leading at the half during the Joni Taylor era.
  • Scored 20+ points in each quarter for the first time under Taylor’s leadership.
  • Made 10-or-more 3-pointers for the first time since draining 11 triples against Mississippi State in the second round of the SEC Tournament (March 2, 2023).
  • The Maroon & White held a 25-point advantage at halftime, the largest since taking a 22-point cushion into the locker room against A&M-Commerce (Dec. 31, 2023).
  • The Aggies gave up less than 20 points in the first half for the first time since holding Prairie View A&M to 14 (Dec. 20, 2023).
  • Five Aggies scored in double figures for the first time since Dec. 6, 2023, against Lamar.
  • Texas A&M began with a starting lineup of Lauren Ware, Sole Williams, Janae Kent, Sahara Jones and Aicha Coulibaly (2-1).

 

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Sahara Jones

  • Grabbed 13 rebounds breaking her previous career high.
  • Recorded the third double-double of her career.

Kyndall Hunter

  • Scored a season high of 18 points, shooting 6-of-9 from the field.
  • Posted career highs in rebounds (4), assists (4) and steals (3).

Aicha Coulibaly

  • Hauled in a team best four steals, leading the Aggies on the glass during the fourth quarter.
  • Swatted away a career-best four shots.
  • Scored in double figures (11) for the first time this season.

Taliyah Parker

  • Logged 13 points, giving her a career high and the first double-digit performance of the season.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach Joni Taylor

On the team’s intensity…

“I thought we came out with great intensity, so this is the second game in a row where it’s looked the way it’s supposed to look from an intensity standpoint. I thought our effort was good. We’re starting to get some things figured out on the defensive end, which is where it always needs to start for us.”

On the Aggies’ offensive performance…

“On offense, I’m very pleased. I thought we shared the ball, I thought we pushed it; this is the most points we’ve had in transition. I think we had a pretty good overall game. We were able to score in different ways. We got to the free-throw line, we scored in transition, we shot it, we got it inside and multiple people scored the basketball. This is what we need to continue to work towards.”

Redshirt Junior Kyndall Hunter

On her performance…

“I feel like my teammates were just finding me in the right places. We were very confident and very decisive. I feel like that could be any one of us on any given day, I just think that today was my day. I think that me sitting out made me have a different hunger for the game. I don’t take any play for granted, any second for granted.”

Graduate Sahara Jones

On the team’s defense…

“We always pride ourselves on defense. It’s something that we hang our hat on. Coming in, we knew they were great shooters, so we were getting out there and trying to run them off the line. If we couldn’t do that, we just rotated. We talked about our rotations and what they wanted to do with the ball all throughout practice and we did what we needed to do.”

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