Texas A&M
12-2
North Texas
1-10
No. 5 Women Move to 12-2, Down North Texas 75-38
Dec 31, 2014 | Women's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION- No. 5 Texas A&M matched the best non-conference win total in school history with a dominating 75-38 victory over North Texas in a women's basketball game at Reed Arena on Wednesday afternoon.
The Aggies (12-2) had previously won 12 games during the 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 non-conference seasons prior to this year. The win also extended the Aggies' home winning streak to ten games.
Texas A&M closed out the first half on a 26-6 run to take a 35-18 lead into the break. The Mean Green (1-10) hung with the Aggies for about 10 minutes, leading 12-9 with 9:50 until halftime before the Aggies went on their run. The Aggies were never seriously challenged in the second half.
Courtney Walker led the Aggies with 12 points in the game, and was joined in double figures by Chelsea Jennings with 10. A&M had seven players with six or more points.
The Aggies, playing the second game of a four games in seven day stretch, received outstanding contributions from their bench, outscoring the Mean Green 40-7 on bench points.
Achiri Ade led the Aggies with seven rebounds.
The Aggies return to action at Reed Arena on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. to host Vanderbilt in the SEC opener.
QUOTES
Mike Peterson, Head Coach North Texas
On the first ten minutes of the game
"We were doing things we wanted to do. They have a lot of length on us, so we wanted to stay between them and the rim. Two things happened in those first ten minutes: we had some breakdowns on defense, a couple bad switches that they beat and curled them down in the lane. Jennings and Knox score all their points for them off the bench. We played well on the kids they started, but they subbed in new girls and they got downhill on us. Offensively, we were dictating the pace real good. Ten minutes into the game I think we only had three turnovers. They were motivated coming out of that game in Seattle. We tried to control the things we could control, their athletic ability and their skill set just took over.”
On the A&M press
"I thought we were fine with it when we were organized. I think we handled the full court pressure ok. For the most part, that wasn't really our issue in terms of valuing the ball; most of our ball control issues were in the front court. I've played Coach Blair's team a bunch so I'm used to seeing that from his teams."
Kelly Bond-White, Associate Head Coach Texas A&M
On rough start shooting
"It could've continued longer than it did. I think a lot of it has to do with us trying to change our mentality in terms of: 'yes, we're open on the jump shot every time, but we want to be more aggressive to start the game. We've seen a lot of zone, but we knew North Texas is primarily a man team so we knew those lanes were going to be open. If you noticed, when we got a chance to turn the corner, which we wanted them to attack the middle, we were still settling for floaters and off-balanced shots instead of attacking the rim and getting to the free throw line, creating a rhythm. When saw we were only shooting 3-of-13, I thought coach was going to come snatch me from the sideline. But I tell you what: when they settled down we were able to take control."
On the game
"Execution wise, I give us a C-plus. We really try not to worry about the W, the end result is the W. It's a process where we want to get better every ball game. We held on a little bit to Texas after that loss. Going into Washington, we looked at the things we did wrong at Texas and we took that into the game in Washington. I didn't want to bring Washington into this game, we wanted to focus on us. It doesn't matter who we play, we're worried about ourselves and our own execution. When I say C-plus, we did some things very well, but there is an expectation level that we still have to meet with all five player on the floor. I thought we were a little bit above average today."
Curtyce Knox, G Texas A&M
On the changes made that sparked the Aggies to a lead
"We brought more energy when we came in. We controlled the tempo more in the secondary with transition. We just got to the basket more."
On upcoming conference play
"I think we're ready. All we have to do is come out and bring it. We're capable of beating anybody in the country if we play hard with a lot of energy."
Chelsea Jennings, G Texas A&M
On being the energy player
"When I subbed in, coach told me I needed energy, rebounds, and deflections. We started out kind of flat, so that's what I tried to do-just come in and be that energy player for the team."
On the importance of this win
"We came out flat against Washington and it came back to bite us in the rear-end. I thought we came back today with good energy after we did settle down. I think it's a good win going into SEC play."
NOTES
- Texas A&M matched the program record with 12 wins during non-conference play. The Aggies previously won 12 non-conference wins in 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11.
- The Aggies have won ten straight home games, and 22 of 24 home games, dating back to last season
- A&M has won 20 straight games against unranked teams at home. The Aggies have won their last 74 home games against unranked teams in non-conference play
- The Aggies have not lost a non-conference home game since Nov. 18, 2012. The Aggies are 21-0 in non-conference home game since.
- Texas A&M is 182-69 all-time at Reed Arena.
- Chelsea Jennings scored 10+ points for the second time this season and third time in her career
- Courtney Walker scored 10+ points for the 12th time this season and the 60th time in her career
- Curtyce Knox had a career-high four steals
- Allison Chu picked up her first career assist
- Gary Blair is now 684-274 in his career and 276-111 at Texas A&M
