News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – The Texas A&M women’s basketball team was doomed by an off-night shooting in Monday’s season-opening loss to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, 62-56, inside Reed Arena.
The Aggies shot 27.3% (18-of-66) from the field, including 12.0% (3-of-25) from 3-point range.
Jada Malone led Texas A&M with 11 points on 5-of-9 (55.6%) field goal shooting and she equaled a career-high with nine rebounds in 16 minutes. In her first game as an Aggie, Janae Kent notched career highs with 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Aggies found themselves in an early deficit, trailing 17-11 at the first intermission. Texas A&M was haunted by 2-of-14 (.143) shooting from the field out of the gate and the Islanders closed out the quarter with a 10-0 run sparked by back-to-back 3-point field goals from Jaeda Whitner.
Texas A&M’s woes continued into the second quarter as A&M-Corpus Christi built a double-digit lead, 27-17, at the 3:16 mark. Malone got the Maroon & White back in the fight with layups on three consecutive trips down the court and the Islanders nursed a 29-23 advantage going into halftime.
The Aggies outscored the Islanders, 13-3, coming out of locker room to take a 36-32 lead with 5:57 remaining in the third quarter. Texas A&M stretched its edge to six points on two occasions, but A&M-Corpus Christi scored the last four points of the quarter to close the Aggies’ advantage to 45-43 at the last break.
Texas A&M made the first bucket of the fourth quarter, but an 8-0 run gave the Islanders a 51-47 margin with 6:37 remaining in the game. The Aggies knotted the game 51-51 on Aicha Coulibaly’s layup at the 5:48 mark. The Islanders closed out the game on an 11-5 run to win the contest.
The Aggies return to the court on Thursday at 11 a.m. against UTSA inside Reed Arena.
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
Texas A&M is now 8-1 against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders.
Joni Taylor’s career record moves to 168-109 all-time and to 28-34 in her three seasons with the Aggies.
TEAM NOTES.
Texas A&M began with a starting lineup of Lauren Ware, Sole Williams, Janae Kent, Sahara Jones and Aicha Coulibaly (0-1).
The Aggies made 13 more free throws than the Islanders, which marked the largest free throws made disparity since converting 13 more opportunities at the charity stripe than Mississippi Valley State on Dec.18, 2023.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Jada Malone
Led the Aggies in points (11) for the third time in her career.
Grabbed nine rebounds, matching her career high.
Kyndall Hunter
Returned to the court after not playing for 960 days due to various injuries in her career.
Sahara Jones
Hauled in a team best 10 rebounds, leading the Aggies on the glass for the seventh time in her career.
Janae Kent
Poured in a career-high 10 points and seven rebounds.
Lauren Ware
Swatted away four shots which was two short of her career best.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Joni Taylor
On how the team needs to respond…
“We’ve got to learn from this. We have to get back tomorrow, watch film on it and make the corrections we need to make. We are not going to get everything fixed tomorrow, but there’s some low-hanging fruit that we have to get taken care of. I don’t know how many times defensively we weren’t checked up in transition or running to the same man, so we have to get those things figured out. We have an early game Thursday morning and UTSA is really talented. They’re tough, athletic and have some really good players so we are going to have our hands full.”
Redshirt Junior Jada Malone
On her performance…
“[Texas A&M Corpus Christi] is a little smaller than we are, so I took advantage of that with the post up, but my teammates were able to get me the ball in spots that I know I can score from, so it was really an everybody thing.”
Redshirt Senior Lauren Ware
On making adjustments for the next game…
“I think a lot of adjustments will be made on the defensive side of the ball. Most of it is simple principles that you learn in grade school, like not being under your man and jumping to the ball. I think we are going to make those changes, and I know tomorrow in practice we’re going to work on everything that needs to be fixed.”
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