COLLEGE STATION- No. 18 Texas A&M fell 70-56 to No. 11 West Virginia on a cold shooting night for the women’s basketball team at Reed Arena in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
The Aggies (6-2) led 36-33 midway through the third quarter, but the Mountaineers (7-0) took control of the game with a 15-2 run to close out the quarter. West Virginia led 30-28 at halftime.
Chennedy Carter led the Aggies with 20 points, her third 20+ point effort of her eight-game career. Khaalia Hillsman had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Jasmine Lumpkin added 11. Anriel Howard led the Aggies with 12 rebounds.
Texas A&M posted season-lows with a 33.3% field goal percentage, a 25.0% 3-point percentage and a 57.1% free throw percentage.
The Mountaineers were led by Teana Muldrow, who scored a game-high 24 points. The teams combined for only three bench points, a 3-pointer by A&M’s Lulu McKinney.
The Aggies return to action on Wednesday, December 6 to host TCU in the annual Elementary School Day game. The game, which is also the Maggie Dixon Classic, starts at a special 11 a.m. tip time on SEC Network.
QUICKIE NOTES
Texas A&M
The Aggies fall to 6-2 on the season, while West Virginia goes to 7-0 on the year
The Aggies are 0-2 against teams ranked in the AP Top 25 this season, and 6-0 against unranked teams
Texas A&M is now 1-2 all-time in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The conferences each notched five wins to split the Challenge.
Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 337-142 in 15 seasons at Texas A&M. He is 745-306 in his Hall of Fame career, which ranks eighth among active coaches
Chennedy Carter
Scored 20+ points for the third time in her eight-game career
Has scored in double figures in all eight games of her career, the only Aggie freshman to start a career with 8+ double figure games.
Khaalia Hillsman
Had her third double-double of the season and the 18th of her career, moving her to a tie for third with Danielle Adams (2009-11) and teammate Anriel Howard on Texas A&M’s career list.
Scored 10+ points for the sixth time this season and the 50th time in her career
Had 10+ rebounds for the third time this season and the 23rd time in her career
Made her 84th consecutive start for Texas A&M
Anriel Howard
Moves past Trigg Crawford (653 rebounds, 1977-81) into 10th on the Texas A&M career rebound list (661)
Had 10+ rebounds for the seventh time this season and the 35th time in her career
Has either 10+ points or 10+ rebounds in every game this season
Jasmine Lumpkin
Scored in double figures for the third time in four games, and the 11th time in her career
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening Statement…
“If I ever thought a team was ready to play, it was tonight, but I was wrong. When Danni [Williams] was in the game, they played us man for man. When Danni went out, they’d zone us. We didn’t have any consistency on getting the ball in. Our entry passes were nonexistent; that’s why there were 17 turnovers. When they have 21 assists and 13 turnovers, we gave ten assists to 17. We were very selfish at times on throwing the ball inside or making the correct pass. Danni has carried us for two years. When she has an off night like this we’ve got other kids on scholarship who’ve got to be able to step up and make better decisions and better plays. The missed layups right before half when we got back into the ballgame down ten, we just hustled and hustled and got back into the thing, I thought it was ours for the taking. We opened up the third quarter and force a turnover, then we start making one out of two free throws from a team shooting 78 percent. When you shoot 14 percent in the third quarter and as bad at free throws, we just kept fighting from behind and they kept executing, and we just didn’t do it.”
On West Virginia…
“[Teana] Muldrow was as good as advertised; she did a great job. They’re a veteran team and their best player wasn’t playing. That scares you right there. They have a chance to be an Elite Eight team when she gets back and they get a transfer eligible. I think they’re a very good basketball team. They do a pretty good job of not fouling. We couldn’t get to the free throw line, and when we did we couldn’t make it — 12 out of 21.”
Texas A&M Senior Guard Lulu McKinney
On what they learned most about the team from this game…
“Well, I would say one, we have to get better on the defensive end. In the first half, we let them have too many transition points and then second half, we just were losing them. At that time, we really needed to buckle down in the second half.”
Texas A&M Freshman Guard Chennedy Carter
On shooting coming late…
“Obviously, you’re going to have nights like that. I just kept shooting, kept moving the ball, kept getting my teammates involved. We couldn’t get anything going, but it started falling at the end. It was a little bit too late but hopefully, next game we’re going to try to get better and make better decisions when we play TCU on Wednesday.”
West Virginia Coach Mike Carey
Opening Statement…
“You know, I don’t think both teams played well. It was a kind of sloppy game, but I told our team in there that I would rather win sloppy than lose pretty. We are not very deep. Texas A&M is not very deep, and we got in a little bit of foul trouble there that concerned me. Our players did what they needed to do to win. It is a tough place to play and we played a real good team. To come in here and win that game is big for us.”
On Teana Muldrow …
“She is playing out position. She is a 3-4 and I have to play her at the 5 right now because of injuries and we have another player becoming eligible here after two more games. This is a 6’5”, 6’6” girl, so she can move back to her regular position.”
On Danni Williams not scoring…
“I think she is a great player that can shoot the three and take you off the rim. I thought we did a good job against her. For the most part, we did a good job against their center once we started getting in there and helping Teana a little bit. Again, this is a good win for us on the road right now with all the injuries everybody hurt. Then, we were getting foul trouble right off the bat and our bench is not deep so that was a big win for us.”
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics