No. 15 Women Beats Ole Miss 81-58 Behind 29 From Jennings

Thursday, January 14

College Station

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

13-4, 3-1SEC

Ole Miss

9-8, 1-3SEC

Ole Miss

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Jan 14, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION- Behind Chelsea Jennings' career-high 29 points, No. 15 Texas A&M dominated Ole Miss 81-58 in a women's basketball game at Reed Arena, as the Aggies picked up their sixth win in seven games.

Jennings, whose previous career-high was 17 on Dec. 5, went 12-15 from the field and 5-6 from the line to become the third Aggie with at least 29 points in a single game this season.

The Aggies (13-4, 3-1 SEC) raced out to a 22-12 lead after a first quarter that featured 10 points from Jennings, and never let the Rebels (9-8, 1-3 SEC) within single digits in the final three quarters. A&M led 40-18 at halftime.

All 12 A&M players that entered the game scored at least two points, as the Aggies shot a season-high 61.5% from the field. Courtney Walker joined Chelsea Jennings in double figures, scoring 17 points with a team-high nine rebounds.

Jordan Jones led A&M with a season-high nine assists, and Rachel Mitchell, who moved up to seventh on A&M's career blocks list, matched her season-high with four blocks.

Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair hit a pair of milestones in the game, picking up his 708^th career win, which ties him with the late Sue Gunter for 13^th on the all-time Division I wins list. The win was also his 300^th win in 13 seasons at Texas A&M.

The win was A&M's 25^th in their last 27 home games. The Aggies are 37-4 at Reed Arena since 2013-14.

The Aggies return to action Sunday, Jan. 17 at No. 2 South Carolina, with television coverage slated for ESPN2 at 12:30 p.m. CT. A&M returns to Reed Arena on Thursday, January 21 to host Missouri at 7 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.

QUICKIE NOTES

Chelsea Jennings had a career-high 29 points, marking her first career 20+ point game.
- Jennings is the third Aggie to score at least 29 points in a game this season
- She scored in double figures for the seventh time this season and 12^th time in her career. She has scored in double digits in five of her last eight games.
Texas A&M is now 13-4 on the season and 3-1 in SEC play. Ole Miss is now 9-8 and 1-3 in SEC play
Texas A&M has won six of their last seven games, with five of those wins coming by at least 18 points.
The Aggies are 8-1 at Reed Arena this season and 25-2 in their last 27 home games. A&M is 37-4 at home at Reed Arena since the start of the 2013-14 season and 197-71 all-time at Reed.
A&M shot a season-high 61.5% from the field
Courtney Walker scored in double figures for the 16^th time in 17 games this season and the 89^th time in her career
- She had 7+ rebounds for the third straight game
Jordan Jones had a season-high nine assists
Rachel Mitchell moved into seventh on A&M's career blocks list, passing Lisa Jordon (1985-89, 90 blocks) and La Toya Micheaux (2005-09, 91 blocks). Mitchell has 93 career blocks.
Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair moves into a tie for 13^th all-time with the late Sue Gunter, former Middle Tennessee, Stephen F. Austin and LSU head coach, with 708 career wins. Blair, who is 708-286 in his career and 300-123 in 13 seasons at Texas A&M, is eighth among active coaches in career wins.
- Gunter was Blair's predecessor at Stephen F. Austin, where he had his first collegiate head coaching job. Blair was 210-43 from 1985-93 at Stephen F. Austin.

Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening statement...
"We played well, and got off to a good start. We shot 61 percent and 68 percent in the second half. Again, they started off in man, we were able to execute, but mainly it wasn't our offense, it was our transition offense. We were getting good looks and making the extra passes, we talked about that because at LSU, we didn't do that, that's why we only had seven or eight assists in the ball game. We had twenty, I could have let Jordan Jones in the game to get 10, but she got hit in the chest early. The game plan was to play her five minutes into the second half and let the other two go. We were just trading baskets, I wasn't really happy about how we were playing in the second half so I left her in there a little bit longer. Know did a pretty good job when you look at her stats but she's got to be a little more aggressive for me and more assertive. Jennings, was just Jennings...That corner shot on the left side that's a lay up for her, but give the kid credit, she works hard, and she's a senior... Walker we knew they were going to pay so much attention to her and she was going to have to get her shots, that extra pass right before half, were she got that corner jumper that showed a smart basketball team by moving the ball around. Rachel played pretty well in there, she was pretty active. They've got South Carolina next.

On expectations from Jennings...
"No, we just let it come to her. We put her in spots were against their half-court trap, she's in the middle making good decisions and when we break it we know where she is in the corner. Other than that they played us in a lot more zone than second half. She's just got a good mid-range game, almost as good as Walker...This team is not about individual stats, we've got to get ready, and we've got to get our bench ready because that bench is going to be playing for me next year."

On Jennings being most improved player...
"When she makes shots, but I want her off the bench. Like I've always said she is our Alex Caruso. She comes off the bench, she makes things happen. I need Williams in there against zones to be able to play. I need Anriel Howard to rebound against South Carolina and whatever I can get from the two-fives....Jordan Jones played very well today, she took a lot of shots. You will see her in the starting lineup against South Carolina."

Texas A&M senior guard Chelsea Jennings
On having a good game…
"I just want to thank my teammates because they found me when I was open and I knew a lot of the attention would be on Courtney Walker. With that being said, that left me with open looks and I was lucky enough to knock them down."

Ole Miss Head Coach Matt Insell
Opening Statement...
"It's a product of who we are as a basketball team, Texas A&M, true credit to them. What Gary [Blair] has done with his program over the years he's been here, has been really good in terms of building a program. You have a kid like Courtney Williams that's out today, but you have another kid like Chelsea Jennings that steps in. That's part of having great players just ready to go and that's where we are going with our program. We're a young team and we got 11 players out of 13 that are in their first or second year in our program. I knew going into this year we were going to have some lumps here and there. Especially the way our schedule falls, with having A&M twice, South Carolina twice and Mississippi State twice. We played arguably the best three teams in the league twice. You got to grow and find victories in things. We will be a lot better team when Texas A&M comes to Oxford in February. Does that mean the result will change? I don't know. I can promise you this, we will be a lot better team from today's games and will grow from this…Being down 40 to 18 at the half, A&M did good things to get that lead, but you look at it and it was off careless turnovers by us, it's off missed lay-ups by us… there's a lot of positives I can take from this game."

On Courtney Walker and Chelsea Jennings…
"… I think Chelsea [Jennings] is a very good player. Chelsea's got hung in a situation here at A&M where you got Jordan Jones, [Courtney] Walker and [Courtney] Williams. I think [Courtney] Walker is the best wing player in our league. I think she has been for a long time. I think she is smart. When I talk about [Courtney] Walker to our team, I tell them if you try to play the play, she'll teach you a new play. That's what I think about her, I think she is really smart; she's really good at reading screens. [Courtney] Williams is very good too but Walker is the one in my mind, as an opposing coach, she is just deadly..."