Credit to Brandon Collins | Associate Director, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – A second-half surge came up short for the Texas A&M women’s basketball team as the Aggies dropped a 78-71 decision to the Alabama Crimson Tide Sunday afternoon inside Reed Arena.
Texas A&M (18-11, 6-10 SEC) trailed by as many as 16 points in the game and 14 with 2:33 remaining in the third quarter but clawed back into the contest. The Aggies went on a 22-4 surge from late in the third to midway through the fourth, building a 63-59 lead with 4:56 left in the game. Alabama (23-8, 10-6 SEC) regrouped and outscored the Maroon & White 19-8 down the stretch. The Crimson Tide’s late burst was buoyed by 10-of-11 (90.9%) shooting from the charity stripe in the final two minutes of action.
Aicha Coulibaly led the Aggies with 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Janiah Barker added 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. Sydney Bowles added 10 points, hitting 3-of-7 (42.9%) from long range.
After seesaw action to start the game, Alabama went on a 11-0 run, staking claim to a 17-8 advantage at the 4:00 mark of the first quarter. Still trailing by nine, Bowles hit a pair of 3-pointers and Tineya Hylton followed with one of her own to knot the game at 19-19 with 1:05 left in the period. The Crimson Tide nosed ahead in the waning moments to go into the first intermission up 22-21.
Alabama opened the second quarter on a 17-2 run to inflate its cushion to 39-23 with 3:56 left in the half. Lauren Ware, Kay Kay Green and Coulibaly made layups on consecutive trips down the court, keying an 8-2 surge by the Aggies, but the Crimson Tide’s Loyal McQueen scored the last three points of the quarter to take a 43-31 advantage into halftime.
The Aggies made two early charges in the third quarter to trim the deficit to single digits, but both times Alabama responded with surges of its own to widen the gap. Texas A&M scored the final six points of the period sparked by Bowles’ third trifecta of the game and the Crimson Tide nursed a 55-47 lead into the final break.
The Maroon & White pounced on the Tide early in the fourth quarter with Barker hitting a pair of jumpers and Hylton knocking down a 3-pointer in the first three trips down the court to cut Alabama’s lead to 55-54. After the Tide’s Essence Cody made a layup, Barker responded with two more layups and the Aggies took their first lead in nearly 30 minutes, 58-57 with 6:31 remaining in the game.
Texas A&M answered a JeAnna Cunningham bucket with a 3-pointer by Sahara Jones and a layup by Coulibaly to take its biggest lead of the game 63-59 at the 4:56 mark. Alabama scored the next nine points to spark its game-winning surge.
Up Next
The Aggies will take on Mississippi State (21-10, 8-8 SEC) at 10 a.m. on Thursday in the second round of the SEC Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina.
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
Texas A&M moves to 10-4 against Alabama all-time.
Joni Taylor’s career record falls to 167-106 all-time and to 27-31 in her two seasons with the Aggies.
TEAM NOTES
Scored 37 points off the bench compared to just seven points from Alabama. The 37 points and 30-point margin are both season highs for the Aggie bench.
Put up 44 points in the paint. Texas A&M is now 11-3 when scoring 40-or-more points inside.
Texas A&M began with a starting lineup of Kay Kay Green, Solè Williams, Aicha Coulibaly, Sahara Jones and Maliyah Johnson for the first time this season (0-1).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Aicha Coulibaly
Led the team in scoring with 19 points on 9-13 (69.2%) shooting from the floor.
Added a team-high five assists and grabbed five rebounds.
Recorded three steals for the 14th time this season.
Janiah Barker
Scored 15 points on 7-12 (58.3%) shooting and hauled in a team-high eight rebounds.
Matched her season-high in blocks with two.
Sydney Bowles
Scored a season-high 10 points off the bench, hitting three 3-pointers in the process.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Joni Taylor
On the offensive aggression in the first half …
“They got to the line nine times. We didn’t get there at all and gave up four threes. We can’t give a team what they want, and they want to shoot threes, get to the line and play in transition. I thought we did a pretty good job of stopping them in transition. We gave them too many looks in the first half and we weren’t getting to the free throw line. It’s a lack of aggression on our part and we’ve got to be more aggressive when we did post up. We got the ball inside, we did some good stuff. We just don’t do it consistently enough.”
On the play of the seniors …
“I thought they played well. I thought MJ stepped into that starting role and gave us great energy. I thought she was really locked in defensively and did some really good things for us. Obviously, Sahara always comes out and plays really hard. Kay Kay played really hard. So those were normal starters. MJ is the only one who stepped into that line up for the first time and I thought she responded. When you have your senior day, any senior, but especially one that normally doesn’t start, your emotions can either get the best of you or you can control your emotions. And I thought they did a good job in that area.”
Sophomore Guard Sydney Bowles
On how Alabama was able to close the game out …
“One thing that they did really well, and we did not was rebounding. They outrebounded us by double-digits. And that was one thing that came down specifically to the end. That kind of killed us because we were there on drives and then we just didn’t get a box out. They got a lot of easy bunnies at the basket and that’s something we definitely have to clean up. That’s something that will really help us win.”
Senior Guard Kay Kay Green
On what Senior Day meant to her …
“I’ve been here for four years, and it’s been bittersweet. I was able to play for two great coaches in Coach Blair and Joni. The love and support around here is what I’ll miss the most. The 12th Man is very special to me because they welcomed a kid from Chicago with open arms. I’m sad that my time is coming to an end here, but I feel like I had a great four years, and I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else.”