Credit to Brandon Collins | Associate Director, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M women’s basketball team never trailed in an 80-35 dismantling of the HCU Huskies Monday evening inside Reed Arena.
The Aggies held a double-digit lead for the last 36:17 of the contest behind a 50.0%-21.7% field goal shooting disparity in favor of the Maroon & White. A&M was huskier on the boards than HCU with a 52-23 rebounding margin.
For the second consecutive game, the Aggies had two players register double-doubles. Barker logged the fourth of her career with 15 points and 10 rebounds. She equaled a career high with four assists and added two blocks. Aicha Coulibaly posted her second double-double of the season and the 11th of her career. She checked in with 13 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Freshman Solè Williams hit 4-of-8 from 3-point range en route to 12 points for her season high. Sahara Jones posted season highs with 11 points, five rebounds and two assists.
Texas A&M dished out 23 assists as a team while committing only 11 turnovers. In addition to Barker and Coulibaly, two other Aggies recorded four or more assists. Kay Kay Green had a season-best five dimes without a turnover and Sydney Bowles added four assists.
The Aggies spread the ball around early with six different players scoring in a game-opening 15-0 run. The surge featured assists on all six field goals. Texas A&M started the quarter hitting 8-of-10 from the field and went into the first intermission hitting 9-of-15 field goals, staking claim to a 23-11 advantage. In the first period, Barker had three of the Aggies’ eight assists and Ol’ Sarge’s charges had just one turnover and one foul on the stat sheet.
Williams hit a 3-pointer at the 2:00-minute mark of the second quarter, capping a 7-0 run and giving Texas A&M its first 20-point advantage of the game. The Aggie defense held HCU without a field goal over the last 4:09 of the first half and went into the intermission with a 39-21 cushion. The Maroon & White held a 15-0 edge in points off turnovers heading into the locker room.
The Aggies scored the last 17 points of the third quarter to snuff out any Husky hopes of victory. Green hit two free throws with 22 seconds remaining in the quarter to inflate A&M’s cushion to 63-27. Barker blitzed the Huskies with 10 points in the stanza, hitting 5-of-6 from the field. On the defensive end, the Aggies held HCU to 1-of-13 (7.7%) shooting from the field in the third quarter.
The victory was emphatically sealed with a season-best 25-0 run spanning 9:40 over the third and fourth quarters. When HCU finally answered with a made free throw, Texas A&M held a 71-28 lead with 5:59 remaining in the game.
The Aggie defense smothered the Huskies in the second half, holding them to just 2-of-20 (10.0%) from the field. HCU went 16:36 between its two field goals in the second half with Texas A&M stretching the advantage to 76-33 with 2:44 left in the contest.
Up Next
The Aggies head to Berkeley, California, to compete in the Raising the B.A.R. Invitational. Play begins at 2:30 p.m. CT versus Winthrop on Friday.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Joni Taylor
On Solè’s Performance…
“I am Really happy for her. She’s someone who works really hard and is always in the gym. She wants to do well and she’s a high-level scorer. She didn’t play against Purdue, and she came back with a really good mindset and attacked practice. She was pressing so much to score and to be perfect or to do the right thing that when she did get a shot, I think she pressed a little bit. But tonight, it was good to watch her just play free and relax and take the right shots and make the right passes.”
On the consistency throughout the game…
“One of the things I’m really pleased about is that when we subbed, our consistency stayed at the same level and that’s been a challenge for us lately. Figuring out the combinations that work well together, but also keeping and maintaining the same level when we sub. Twenty-three assists is phenomenal. We’ve shared the ball really well this year.”
Sophomore Forward Janiah Barker
On the fast start to the game…
“I think that we came out with the mindset of we can’t go out how we did last game. We came with a little fire because the Purdue game bothered us a lot. I’m glad it bothered us the way it did and that we lost early and not deeper into the season.”
Freshman Guard Solè Williams
On knocking down four threes…
“It felt amazing honestly. I’ve just been very patient and supporting everyone that’s on the court and my time finally came and it’s been amazing having my teammates there to support me and be happy for me.”
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
Joni Taylor’s career record advances to 152-96 all-time and to 12-21 in her two seasons with the Aggies.
The Aggies matched up with HCU for the first time ever and are now 1-0 against the Huskies.
TEAM NOTES
The Aggies opened the game on a 15-0 run, the third longest scoring streak of the season.
The Maroon & White went on a 25-0 scoring run in the second half that spanned 9:40 through the third and fourth quarters. It was the largest run of the season for the Aggies.
Texas A&M allowed only six points in the third quarter, the lowest quarter of the season, and only allowed eight points in the fourth, which marks three times this year giving up 10 points-or-less in a quarter.
The Aggies finished the game with a 45-point victory, the largest victory in the Joni Taylor era.
The Aggies only allowed HCU to score 35 points, which is the least a team has scored against A&M in the Taylor era.
For the second time this season, four Aggies scored in double figures with Barker (15), Coulibaly (13), Williams (12) and Jones (11).
A&M featured two double-doubles in the same game for the second-consecutive outing, with Barker an Coulibaly earning the nod.
Texas A&M dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Huskies 52-23, which is the first time the Maroon & White has held a 20-plus rebound advantage since Army on Nov. 13, 2022 (53-32).
Texas A&M began with a starting lineup of Endyia Rogers, Aicha Coulibaly, Sahara Jones, Janiah Barker and Lauren Ware (3-1).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Janiah Barker
Led A&M with 15 points, shooting 7-10 (70%) from the field. Barker has paced the Ags in scoring for the third-straight game, where A&M is 2-1 in those outings.
Recorded a double-double for the second time this season.
Tied her career high in assists with four.
Sahara Jones
Recorded a career high in scoring with 11 points.
Tied her season high in rebounds with five.
Aicha Coulibaly
Recorded a season high in rebounds with 11, marking 11th time in her career with 10-plus rebounds and the 11th double-double of her career.
Solè Williams
Made a career high four 3-pointers, going 4-8 (50%) from deep.
Recording a career high in scoring with 12 points.