Texas A&M
16-3, 4-1SEC
Ole Miss
14-5, 4-2SEC
No. 11 Women Rally to Cool Off Rebels, 58-49
Jan 18, 2015 | Women's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION- No. 11 Texas A&M posted its 13th straight win at Reed Arena, knocking off Ole Miss 58-49 in a women's basketball game. Courtney Williams led the Aggies with 21 points.
Texas A&M (16-3, 4-1 SEC) rallied from a halftime deficit for the sixth time this season, as Ole Miss (14-5, 4-2 SEC) took a 29-27 lead into the break, despite two A&M scores in the last 16 seconds of the opening frame.
The Aggies would go on a 11-0 run midway through the second half, taking a 49-41 lead with 7:09 to play. A&M would not relinquish that lead for the remainder of the game.
Williams' team-leading 21 points puts her just 90 away from becoming the 27th Aggie with 1,000 career points. Williams added eight rebounds to her total in her fourth 20+ point game of the year.
Achiri Ade had 13 rebounds, giving her five straight games with 10+ rebounds, making her the first A&M player to have a 10+ rebound streak that long since Kelsey Bone in 2012-13. Ade has averaged 10.4 rebounds since Dec. 9
Courtney Walker reached double figures with 12 points.
The Aggies next game comes at No. 18 Georgia on Thursday, January 22 at 6 p.m., with coverage on SEC Network Plus. Texas A&M returns home on Sunday, February 1 at 2 p.m. to host Auburn.
QUICKIE NOTES
- The Aggies have won 13 straight games at home, dating back to last season. The Aggies have won 24 of 26 games at home.
- The Aggies are 185-69 at Reed Arena and 135-17 at home since 2005-06.
- A&M is 112-3 against unranked opponents at home since Feb. 2005
- A&M has won 10+ home games for the 11th straight season
- This win guarantees A&M an 11th straight .500-or-better season
- A&M came back from a halftime deficit for the sixth time this year. The Aggies are 6-2 when trailing at the break this season
- Achiri Ade became the first Aggie since Kelsey Bone in 2012-13 to have 10+ rebounds in five straight games
- Ade has 10+ rebounds in eight games this season and 14 games in her career
- Ade is averaging 10.4 rebounds since Dec. 9
- Courtney Williams had 20+ points for the fourth time this season and 11th time in her career.
- Williams had 10+ points for the 10th time this season and 44th time in her career
- Williams needs 90 points to become the 27th Aggie with 1,000 for her career
- Courtney Walker scored 10+ points for the 15th time this season and 63rd time in her career
- Jordan Jones matched her career-high with six steals
- Gary Blair is now 688-275 in his career and 280-112 at Texas A&M
- Texas A&M is now 16-3 on the season and 4-1 in SEC play. Ole Miss is 14-5 and 4-2 in league play
QUOTES
Texas A&M Junior Forward Courtney Williams
On the difference in the second half…
“The crowd, getting easy buckets, and making our free throws. We are a second half team. We came out with a lot of energy in the second half. Coach Blair told us we were going to win this game when we were down by two in the second half, because that's what we do. We're not supposed to do that, but that's what we do. I think easy buckets and the crowd really got us. There was a lot of momentum in the second half. ”
On the defense…
“Yes, I think we did better in defense. We took away the right handed drives like Coach Starkey told us. Because [Erika Sisk] was getting a lot of right handed drives. We weren't getting back in transition and we were fouling more. Either they were getting rebounds off of transition buckets because we weren't boxing out; we were too worried about the drive. So Coach Starkey just stressed right handed drives, because not to many people can finish with their left. I think we did a good job at that in the second half.”
Texas A&M Forward Achiri Ade
Ole Miss giving trouble in the first half…
”It really was taking away right hand drive. We let [Erika Sisk] get to the basket a lot. [Tia Faleru] had some good shots, and they were getting a lot of offensive rebounds. They had 15 offensive rebounds and that's not good.”
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the difference in the second half …
“We've been behind at half every ball game, five straight games. We found a way to win four of them. We found some things that would work. We talked about our turnovers that killed us. We gave up ten offensive boards in the first half. And we turned it over ten times. Now the difference is in the second half we had one turnover. One turnover, that's good point guard play.
On the game…
“It was just a hard ball game. When you can win shooting 31% then you've done something right. So give our kids a little bit of credit. It started with three straight days of great practices”
Ole Miss Head Coach Matt Insell
Opening statement…
“Texas A&M has a really good basketball team. We knew that coming in. They've got three of the most explosive guards in our league. They're a tough match up night in and night out for every team that they play. I was proud of our kids for battling the way they battled. We missed a lot of open shots that we've been making, and we will go back and work on that. But we got every shot we wanted and I'm just really happy with are fight. But I'm not happy with being close. Our team is a growing team. We're a young unexperienced basketball team that has a lot of youth on it. We are a young program in terms of our remolding process that we are doing with our program. Our next step is to go on the road and win a game like this or Kentucky. That you're in there at the under four timeout and you just have to figure out a way to win it. We have to go back and work on that. Figure out where we messed up in that last four minutes. Figure that out as a program and get better from it.”
