Credit to Brandon Collins | Associate Director, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M women’s basketball team lost Sunday’s SEC tilt against the No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks, 99-64, inside Reed Arena.
Endyia Rogers led the Aggies with 21 points – her second 20-point effort in the last three games. Over the span, she is averaging 21.0 points per game.
Sahara Jones logged a season high in the points column for the second-consecutive game. She registered 17 points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers to go with five rebounds.
Aicha Coulibaly checked in with 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Solè Williams tallied the fourth double-digit scoring performance of her career with 10 points in 17 minutes on the court.
Texas A&M (14-4, 2-3 SEC) was playing without the services of starting forward Janiah Barker and key bench piece Maliyah Johnson who were out due to injuries.
South Carolina (17-0, 5-0 SEC) scored the first 15 points and stretched the lead to 20 points before A&M’s Jones hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 25-8 at the first intermission.
After the Gamecocks scored the initial bucket of the second quarter, the Aggies went on a 7-2 run highlighted by Williams’ second 3-pointer of the game to cut South Carolina’s advantage to 29-15 at the 7:15 mark. For the remainder of the quarter, the Gamecocks outscored Texas A&M 25-8 to go into halftime up 54-23.
Rogers and Jones scored seven points apiece in the third quarter, but the Aggies were unable to slash into South Carolina’s lead. The Gamecocks led 79-45 going into the last intermission.
The Aggies were paced by Rogers again in the fourth quarter with her eight points to go with six by Coulibaly, but the Maroon & White were unable to cut the deficit under 30 points in the homestretch.
Up Next
The Aggies will travel to Missouri on Thursday for an 8 p.m. ball game.
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
Texas A&M is now 4-11 against South Carolina all-time.
Joni Taylor’s career record falls to 163-99 all-time and to 23-24 in her two seasons with the Aggies.
TEAM NOTES
Four Aggies scored in double-digits for the ninth time this season (Rogers – 21, Jones – 17, Coulibaly – 10, Williams – 10).
Texas A&M began with a starting lineup of Endyia Rogers, Aicha Coulibaly, Sydney Bowles and Lauren Ware (0-1). This was Bowles first start of the season.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Endyia Rogers
Led the team in scoring with 21 points on 7-15 (46.7%) from the field. This was her second 20-point game of the season.
Rogers is averaging 18.6 points per contest in SEC play.
Sahara Jones
Scored a season-high 17 points. This was the fifth game this season Jones has scored in double-digits.
This marks the second game in a row Jones has recorded a season-high scoring game and she is averaging 16.0 points over the last two games.
Solè Williams
Led the team in scoring off the bench with 10 points. This was the fourth time this season that Williams has scored in double digits.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Joni Taylor
On the message to the team after the game…
“Great job in the third and fourth quarters for coming out and fighting when they didn’t have to. I thought Vanessa did a good job in the minutes that she got. You know, she got indoctrinated there a little bit today. But it was a growth opportunity, it’s a chance for us to learn and get better. We’re gonna dissect the film and then we have to turn around and get ready for a team on Thursday in Missouri.”
On the impact Endyia made throughout the game…
“She’s someone who I’ll say over and over again, just her ability to score, she draws attention. So, you can put her in a ton of different actions on and off the ball. She can create for herself and others and she also takes care of the basketball. And so, it brings us great value.”
Graduate Guard Endyia Rogers
On the slow start to the game…
“Yeah, we got off to a slow start. We got down by a lot and like we said, we can’t expect to come back once we dig ourselves in a hole. We weren’t hitting shots that we normally make.”
Senior Guard Sahara Jones
On how this game can be a learning experience…
“They’re the number one team. So, when we play them, we get to see where we’re at. And so, it teaches us a lesson when we’re going into other games to not dig ourselves in a hole like that and expect to come out with a win. We just have to go back into practice and work on our principles and get back in transition to guard how we know we can guard.”
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