Texas A&M
22-1,13-1SEC
South Carolina
19-4,14-2SEC
CHAMPIONS!
Feb 28, 2021 | Women's Basketball
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)-- Aaliyah Wilson scored 17 points and N'dea Jones added 16 to lead No. 3 Texas A&M to a 65-57 win over fifth-ranked South Carolina on Sunday to give the Aggies their first regular-season Southeastern Conference title.
S-E-C CHAMPS ??#GigEm pic.twitter.com/hFWuNslpV2
— Texas A&M Women's Basketball (@AggieWBB) February 28, 2021
It's the 10th straight victory for the Aggies and their ninth win over a ranked opponent this season, which leads the nation. Texas A&M (22-1, 13-1 SEC) finished the season 13-0 at home.
The Gamecocks trailed by as many as 14 in the fourth quarter but cut the lead to 3 on a 3-pointer by Aliyah Boston with about three minutes to go.
Wilson pushed Texas A&M's lead to 62-57 on a basket with less than 90 seconds remaining and Kayla Wells added two free throws with 12 seconds left to secure the victory.
The Aggies outscored South Carolina (19-4, 14-2) 19-8 in the third quarter to take a commanding lead before the Gamecocks got back in it late.
Destanni Henderson and Zia Cooke had 15 points each for the Gamecocks, who won both the SEC regular-season and conference tournament titles last season.
Texas A&M led by 14 early in the fourth before South Carolina used a 9-0 run, with the first seven points from Cooke, to get within 56-51 with about 5½ minutes remaining.
The Aggies added one free throw before Henderson's 3-pointer cut the lead to 57-54 with five minutes to go.
Texas A&M was up by 1 at halftime and scored the first 10 points of the second half to make it 45-34 with about four minutes left in the third. Jordan Nixon started that run with a jump shot and capped it with a 3-pointer.
The Gamecocks couldn't do anything right in that stretch, missing seven shots and committing four turnovers. They got their first point of a period when Cooke made one of two free throws with about three minutes left in the quarter.
The Aggies added a basket after that before South Carolina got its first field goal of the second half on a layup by Lele Grissett a few seconds later.
A 5-0 run by Texas A&M, with another 3 by Nixon, came next to make it 52-37 and spur South Carolina coach Dawn Staley to call a timeout.
The Gamecocks finished the quarter with a 5-2 spurt to cut the lead to 52-42 entering the fourth.
Jones had 14 rebounds to pass Anriel Howard (1,002) for most career rebounds in school history with 1,010.
The @SEC is ours ??#GigEm? pic.twitter.com/WWUuK60mTT
— Texas A&M Women's Basketball (@AggieWBB) February 28, 2021
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
- Texas A&M’s record improves to 22-1 overall with a historic 13-1 finish to its Southeastern Conference campaign.
- South Carolina drops to 19-4 with a 13-2 mark at the conclusion of the SEC regular season.
- A&M broke the Gamecocks seven-game win streak in the all-time series and has now won four games against South Carolina.
- The Maroon & White recorded their second all-time win against the Associated Press No. 5 team.
PROGRAM HISTORY NOTES
- Texas A&M won its first conference regular season championship since the 2006-07 Big 12 Championship, and its first since joining the Southeastern Conference in 2012-13.
- This is A&M’s sixth conference championship in program history (two regular season, four conference tournament).
- The Maroon & White recorded their first one-loss regular season in program history, also setting a program record for regular season winning percentage at 95.7%.
- A&M finished its best conference campaign all-time with a 13-1 record, as well as its first one-loss conference regular season result.
- The 2020-21 season is Texas A&M’s first undefeated season at home since 2006-07 and the second undefeated campaign at home all-time.
- With the win, A&M recorded its longest conference win streak in program history, winning the final 10 games of SEC play.
- Texas A&M women’s basketball came away with a win in the first top-five matchup in Reed Arena history, including men’s basketball and volleyball events.
- This is the first top-five victory for the Aggies since they defeated No. 2 Stanford in the Final Four of the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
- The Aggies now have two double-digit win streaks in the same season for the first time in program history.
TEAM NOTES
- N’dea Jones opened the game with an eight-point, five-rebound first quarter and helped guide the Aggies to a 17-14 lead through the first period of play.
- After a hotly contested second quarter, A&M maintained a 35-34 advantage with seven points coming from Aaliyah Wilson and four more from Kayla Wells.
- Following a 3-point bomb by Jordan Nixon at the 1:15 mark of the third quarter, Texas A&M extended its lead to a game-high 15 points, 52-37.
- The Gamecocks cut A&M’s lead down to three, but Aaliyah Wilson iced the game on a driving layup, followed by a pair of defensive stops and Kayla Wells free throws allowed for A&M’s first Southeastern Conference regular season championship.
- A&M dominated in the paint, outscoring the Gamecocks 36-26 down low.
- Defense was A&M’s calling card on Sunday, as the Aggies held South Carolina to a mere 32.4% shooting from the field and 22.7% from three.
- The Aggies commanded the lead for 35:25 of the game and allowed the Gamecocks less than three minutes in control.
- The Maroon & White capitalized at the free-throw line, hitting 10 shots at the charity stripe after drawing 17 fouls.
- Texas A&M started its final regular season game with a lineup of Aaliyah Wilson, Jordan Nixon, Kayla Wells, N’dea Jones and Ciera Johnson.
- The Aggies have started all 23 games this season with the same starting lineup.
- Texas A&M University celebrated the five graduates and lone senior on the Aggie women’s basketball roster with a ceremony prior to tipoff.
- Anna Dreimane, Kayla Wells, Aaliyah Wilson, Ciera Johnson and N’dea Jones have completed their undergraduate coursework and are pursuing their master’s degrees in Aggieland, while Destiny Pitts is scheduled to graduate from the university later this year.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- N’dea Jones set the Texas A&M program record for career rebounds in the second quarter, surpassing Anriel Howard’s record of 1,002 boards.
- The Lawrenceville, Georgia, native added to her program record in double-doubles with her 14th of the season and 40th of her career.
- Jones finished with 16 points in her Reed Arena finale, marking her 15th double-digit scoring performance this season and 44th of her career.
- The senior forward finished with a game-high 14 rebounds, her 16th double-digit rebound game this year and the 62nd of her career. She now has 1,010 career boards.
- Jones rounded out her historic performance with a new season high in blocks, swatting away two shots.
- Aaliyah Wilson celebrated senior day with a game-high 17 points on 8-for-19 shooting from the field.
- This was Wilson’s 18th double-digit scoring performance of the season and 37th of her career.
- The Muskogee, Oklahoma, native added eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block.
- Kayla Wells scored in double figures for the 13th time this season and 63rd time in her career, extending her double-digit scoring streak to eight-straight after her 10-point performance.
- The Dallas native finished with a game-high plus/minus of plus-14.
- Senior center Anna Dreimane electrified the Reed Arena crowd with a team high-tying two blocks.
- Jordan Nixon battled against the Gamecocks, scoring 11 points with a team-high five assists.
- Nixon has scored in double figures 10 times this year, 11 times in her career, and has reached double-digits in four-consecutive games to conclude SEC play.
- Women’s Basketball Hall-of-Famer Gary Blair ascends to 835-331 overall in his coaching career and is 427-168 since joining the Texas A&M program in 2003-04.
- Blair has now won a combined 18 conference championships during his head coaching career dating back to his time at Stephen F. Austin.
UP NEXT
No. 3 Texas A&M women’s basketball travels to Greenville, S.C., to take part in the 2021 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. The Maroon & White will be the No. 1 overall seed and will play their first game on Friday, March 5 with tipoff scheduled for 10:00 a.m. CT on SEC Network.
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening statement…
“Women’s basketball needed a game like this. Whether we were playing at South Carolina or here, we’re the two best teams in this conference and we’ve both proven it night-in, night-out. There have been so many different schemes thrown at us, and we’ve always managed to respond. Now, it’s time to put this regular season behind us and start over at the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament. South Carolina kept hanging with us today, but as usual, my guards were making good decisions and we were not living and dying by the three. Jordan Nixon is ranked number one in the nation in leadership of her team. She does a fantastic job of finding out what we need to do to win a particular ball game. She hasn’t met a situation that she couldn’t handle. This was just a great ball game.”
On winning the SEC title for the first time…
“We were the first team at A&M to win a team championship in 2013 when we won the tournament championship. We didn’t win the regular season. But we won that tournament championship. That sort of started the thing I know what we had done in 2011, we hadn't won a conference title since 2007. We really wanted this, tournament championships are great, but the body of work which you have to do during the regular season is so important. It's a shame that all the teams in the SEC didn't all have equal number of games. I would have hated to have won it on one way, if I had the highest winning percentage but somebody beat me head to head. I wouldn't have felt like the champion and that's what I was fixing to happen. We needed to win this game to solidify who we were and what we've earned. We didn't opt out of the two games that we missed and South Carolina said bring on all comers, they played all 16 games and give them a lot of credit for who they are. Nobody in America has lost four games to the that they have lost to. I guarantee you, they're still one of the favorites to win the national championship.”
On when he realized this team has special championship caliber potential…
“There's no way in the preseason I realized that, because I knew what was coming. I also knew given the schedule, if we were going to do it, it would have to be this year. We had all the big horses coming to A&M. If this game would have been played non-COVID like, this would have been A&M and Baylor all over again and there would have been 13,000 people in here. We had all the top teams coming to A&M. You have to take care of business at home, and we did. And then on the road, all you do is survive. You survive, make good decisions down the stretch, which this team has done all year long.”
Senior guard Aaliyah Wilson
On the team’s depth…
“Everybody on the team has something they are good at or can do. I think that is what makes us so good. No team can just cut us off, they can’t take the head off, because every player brings something to the table. From the one to the 15, because everyone has something special that they do, and I think we keep showing that every game. It is not always pretty, but we find a way, it shows our experience. I say we are veterans; a bunch of veterans and we have newcomers and they are learning as the process goes on. They are showing up every day in practice and they are making us better. That is really something that shows a testament to who we can be.”
On if she knew this team was special from the beginning…
“I think it's really easy to get caught up in what people have or have not done. I think us knowing and being able to watch each other every day and see how good we really can be individually and as a team. I think we did a really, really, really good job as players and even the coaches of just reminding us that we can't get complacent in what we can do or what we have done, you know every day we've taken in one game one practice at a time. I think it shows that every game is not always pretty, but we find a way. Whether it is the posts picking us guards up or us guards picking the posts up. We just keep having each other’s back. Now we are SEC champs and I think that speaks for itself.”
Senior forward N’dea Jones
On the team’s ability to stop them from scoring inside…
“Our game goal was to take away the paint. They score a lot of their points inside the paint. At the beginning of the game we noticed that they kept attacking which allowed them to keep up with us. During halftime, Coach Starkey broke down the scoring and told us that they had 10 points off of points in the paint. We really went out there and tried to play inside out. We kept reminding each other to go under the screens and when to take a step back. I think my team did a really good job communicating that.
On setting the Texas A&M program record in rebounds…
“I knew going into the game that I needed seven. Coach Blair and Starkey just reminded me that I needed seven. My parents were just like you just need seven. Honestly when it happened, I didn’t even know it happened, I was just worried getting back on defense. It feels pretty good, but I am really happy that my team won, and I feel like they needed the extra possessions that I was able to give them especially from Ciera [Johnson] and I. We at one point were tipping the rebounds to each other, trying to help each other out. I am really happy.
Senior center Anna Dreimane
On main focus as the team prepares for the SEC Tournament…
“Our focus is to definitely keep the same mentality and take one game at a time like we have been doing the whole season, we have done a great job with that. We have won all our games but one, and just have to continue having that one game mentality. I think we can do great things.”
On her performance in today’s game…
“I just try to go in and do my best like I do every day in practice. I take great pride in defense so that’s honestly my focus when I go in, I just know what I want to do, and I try to do my best with it. I’m so glad that’s how it went today. It was a huge game and a huge win and I’m just so happy.
