Women's Basketball Tops SMU, 67-55

Monday, December 7

College Station

11:00 AM

Texas A&M

7-2

SMU

3-5

SMU

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Dec 07, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION- In front of 8,004 fans, No. 12 Texas A&M downed SMU 67-55 in the third annual Elementary School Day game at Reed Arena.

The crowd, which featured 4,300 elementary school students from across the Brazos Valley, was the 7^th-largest for a women's game at Reed Arena, and the largest for a women's game since 2011-12. The Aggies are now 3-0 in Elementary School Day games, and have seen attendance increase in each of the first three versions of Elementary School Day.

Texas A&M (7-2) never trailed, racing out to a 41-28 lead at halftime. The Mustangs (3-5) closed to within five points in the third quarter, but never got any closer after that.

The Aggies were led by Courtney Williams who scored 16 points. She was joined in double figures by Courtney Walker with 15 and Khaalia Hillsman with 12 points.

Texas A&M is now 4-0 at Reed Arena this season, and have won 33 of their last 36 home games.

The Aggies return to action on Dec. 12 to host DePaul at 2 p.m., in a game that is televised on SEC Network. That game is a celebration of Gary Blair's 700^th career win, which he attained on Nov. 27 in Las Vegas, Nev.

NOTES

Texas A&M improves to 7-2 on the season, while SMU falls to 3-5
Today's attendance was 8,004, the seventh-largest for a women's game at Reed Arena.
- It is the largest attendance for a women's game at Reed Arena since 10,265 saw Baylor and A&M on Feb. 27, 2012
- It is the second-largest crowd for a non-conference women's game at Reed Arena, behind the 8,532 who saw A&M play Tulsa in the 2005 WNIT
This was A&M's annual Elementary School Game, with over 4,300 local elementary school kids in attendance. Texas A&M is 3-0 in Elementary School Day games
- Today's crowd of 8,004 is the largest for an Elementary School Day
- Attendance has grown at each of the last three Elementary School Days
The Aggies are 4-0 at Reed Arena this season and 193-70 overall. A&M is 33-3 at home since the start of 2013-14
The Aggies have won 78 straight home games against non-conference opponents that are unranked
Khaalia Hillsman reached double figures in scoring for the third time this season and eighth time in her career
Courtney Walker reached double figures in scoring for the eighth time in nine games this season and 81^st game in her career
- Walker moved up to third on A&M's career field goals made list, with 631 for her career, passing Lisa Langston (627 made, 1982-86)
Courtney Williams scored in double figures for the eighth time in nine games this season, and the 64^th time in her career
Danni Williams has made at least one 3-pointer in five straight games
Texas A&M is No. 15 in this week's AP Top 25 poll, which came out shortly after the conclusion of the game
Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 702-284 in his career and 294-121 in 13 seasons at Texas A&M
The Aggies return to action on Saturday, December 12 at 2 p.m. to host DePaul in Reed Arena. The game is the celebration of Gary Blair's 700^th career win, attained on Nov. 27 in Las Vegas, Nev.

QUOTES

Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On today's game…
"We played three games in less than 54 hours and it showed, it really showed. We tried as hard as we could. I think SMU realized that and their eyes lit up in the second half, and they started playing a whole lot better. We were lucky we built a comfortable lead. And when it stopped, I had to keep my starters in a lot longer than I wanted to, but we had no choice. When you make this schedule, you make a senior schedule for kids that have played in NCAA Tournaments and learn how to handle adversity, and learn how to respond from adversity. I think our kids did a pretty good job in the first half. We'll chalk it up for experience."

On DePaul next game…
"A lot of our kids have finals on Friday, then we come back with DePaul on Saturday. DePaul played Connecticut about as good as anyone in the country, except for Notre Dame so far. They are up-tempo and they are fast. What we've got to do is recover, get our legs in shape to be able to play that style of ball against DePaul."

On elementary school day…
"Jordan Jones said it all. She was so good about talking on the PA system after we sawed the horns (off). They talk about role models, well, a lot of times kids are role models to us. They're not living in the drama world that as we get older we tend to live in. 50-70% of those kids have never been on A&M's campus before, much less a basketball game. So when they get home tonight around that dinner table…that's all they're going to talk about is that basketball game. I thought it was very special. I thought our marketing department, Heather Overholt, this is her first year, she did a great job organizing. The energy that they gave us, we could not have done it unless we had those kids"

Texas A&M Center Khaalia Hillsman
On SMU's third quarter run…
"I think we just let up. We played the first and second quarter really hard and got a big lead. Then in the third quarter, we let up because we hadn't had a break in a while. We let the fatigue get to us in the third quarter."

On extensive traveling affecting the game today…
"It's been wearing on me since we got back from Hawaii. The word for our game today was toughness; we had to persevere regardless because nobody wants to lose."

On elementary school day…
"I love kids so hearing them screaming the whole game gave us some energy."

Texas A&M Guard Jordan Jones
On SMU's third quarter run…
"It was a battle of will because both teams were fatigued in the third quarter but they capitalized on our fatigue more than we did on theirs. They really just took advantage of the moment. We let our guard down and they took advantage of that, so that's on us. Credit to them because they sped the game up; they pushed the tempo and got transition baskets. Credit to them for coming out and executing against our fatigue."

On elementary school day…
"I really appreciate the kids for coming out, it's one of my favorite games. Having them here uplifted us today with their energy, I don't think we could have pulled this one out today without them. They made us perform the way we did today."

On executing the defensive game plan…
"It's really big. One of the reasons we all signed with Texas A&M was for the tenacity on defense. We're starting to get back to that more; the first couple of games that wasn't really our identity and now we're starting to find our identity more on defense. We've really been able to execute our defensive game plan, causing turnovers and getting out and run because great athletes who can score in transition instead of setting up in half court all the time."

SMU Head Coach Rhonda Rompola
On today's game…
"I thought our team battled. We never let up, never gave up. This is a really, really good team. Two Courtneys (Walker and Williams) are very, very difficult to guard, their bigs inside are tough. We were hoping, especially that second half when A&M didn't have their legs, we'd be able to make them run. We did make them run. Bottom line, it doesn't matter who you play, it's all about hitting shots. We hit some of those shots that third quarter and fourth quarter. Some of those threes cut it down. When we cut it down to five and six there were a couple (of) times we had forced possessions that could have cut it even to four. Like I said, I thought our kids battled but the two Courtneys hit some huge shots and they're great gamers and that's what they do."

On elementary school day…
"This is the best atmosphere, I'd much rather have an atmosphere where it's full of kids, and no disrespect to adults, but it's kind of nice to see the kids out there. This is a very educated kid group, because every other place that we've been, the kids cheer for anybody who scores. The most difficult part of it was I could never get their attention to change a defensive call or call a play because they couldn't hear, but like I said, it's a wonderful atmosphere."

On focusing on three-pointers…
"Against a team like that, you have to take what they give you. We had some looks. We finally got McKenzie Adams going, she wasn't hitting her shots at the beginning and that kind of hurt us a little bit. I think shooters, it's a rhythm thing. They feel the rhythm and I felt like we had the rhythm. I think at that point maybe A&M let up a bit on defense and let their guard down a little bit. We were able to take advantage of it. I think that was huge for our confidence to see that you can battle with a team like that on the road."