No. 13 Women Down No. 23 Mizzou 81-77 In OT

Thursday, January 21

College Station

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

14-5, 4-2SEC

Missouri

15-4, 2-4SEC

OT 1

Missouri

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Jan 21, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION- Courtney Walker scored 10 of No. 13 Texas A&M's 16 overtime points to lead the Aggies to an 81-77 overtime win over No. 23 Missouri in a women's basketball game at Reed Arena on Thursday.

Missouri (15-4, 2-4 SEC), who trailed by as many as 15 points, took a 60-58 with 1:56 left in the fourth quarter after a 14-0 run. Trailing by three with 8.4 seconds to play, Walker hit three free throws to tie the game at 65, and send it to overtime.

The Aggies (14-5, 4-2 SEC) had three players with 20+ points, led by Chelsea Jennings' 22. Jordan Jones had a season-high 20, and Walker finished with 20.

Texas A&M jumped out to a 13-4 lead with 5:48 left in the first quarter, but Missouri battled back to tie the game at 13 after the first frame. A&M, who led 25-23 at halftime, led 52-37 with 41 seconds left in the third quarter, prior to Mizzou's rally.

After this game, the Aggies play at Alabama on Thursday, January 28 at 6 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. The Aggies return home for the rematch with No. 2 South Carolina on Sunday, January 31 at 5 p.m. on ESPN2.

QUICKIE NOTES
• No. 13 Texas A&M is 14-5 on the season and 4-2 in SEC play. No. 23 Missouri is 15-4 overall and 2-4 in SEC play.
• Texas A&M is 9-1 at Reed Arena this season, 26-2 in their last 28 home games, and 38-4 at home since the start of the 2013-14 season. The Aggies are 198-71 all-time at Reed Arena.
• The Aggies are 4-3 against ranked teams this season. This is the second game of a seven-game stretch against six ranked opponents.
• Jordan Jones had a season-high 20 points o This is her second career 20+ point game o She scored in double figures for the second straight game, seventh time this season, and 28th time in her career. She had back-to-back 10+ point games for the first time since having three straight from Nov. 15-21
• Chelsea Jennings had her second career 20+ point scoring game. o She scored in double figures for the third straight game, ninth time this season, and 14th time in her career
• Courtney Walker scored 20+ points for the eighth time this season and the 27th time in her career. o She scored in double figures for the 10th straight game, 18th time this season and 91st time in her career. • Rachel Mitchell had at least one block for the ninth straight game. She has had 4+ blocks in three straight games and 5 blocks in two straight games
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 709-285 in his career and 301-124 in 13 seasons at Texas A&M. He is now alone in 13th on the all-time wins list, breaking a tie with the late Sue Gunter, the former SFA and LSU coach. He is eighth among active coaches.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair

On the game…
"What a comeback. We were down four at the end. We made some plays down the stretch and they made a poor turnover near the end of the half. I was proud of the start, 13-4. Then we got into foul trouble with Ariel (Howard) and (Taylor) Cooper did a serviceable job for us. She didn't need to score. She just needed to be out there guarding Cunningham. We saw about 38 minutes of zone and we attacked it some. It was a great win"

On Mizzou…
"I thought we did a pretty good job on Cunningham the whole night. Their two bigs hurt us the whole night because we couldn't keep them off the boards. Missouri could easily be a sweet sixteen team i think they are that good. We are fortunate to get a win. They are a good ball club and life on the road is tough. Their point guard Frericks killed us in the first half. It was just a great basketball game."

On Courtney Walker..
"Walker had two points at the half but we had to stick with her. Sometimes your shot just isn't falling. She was shooting against a lot of size all night and it was hard for her to get space. But in the end she hit those free throws down the stretch. That's tough."

On the win coming before the open week…
"This loss would have been devastating. We led the game by 14 points. we have a bye this weekend coaches will be out recruiting. We could not afford to lose at home knowing the schedule we have coming up. We have to take care of business against Alabama, that place is going to be crowded and loud. Then we can start looking toward South Carolina."

Texas A&M guard Courtney Walker
On the clutch free throws…
"I wasn't really trying to think about the free throws during the timeout. I was just listening to Coach Blair and Coach Starkey talk about what I needed to do on the defensive end. Then I could just step up to the line and knock them down. "

Second Half difference…
"In the first half, I was thinking about the shots too much. Not giving enough legs on the shots, I was shooting with all arm. Then, I hit a shot on the wing in the second half and that's when i felt comfortable again."

Texas A&M guard Jordan Jones
Thoughts on the game…
"We try to not to worry about the score and just worry about doing our job each possession. Coming so close against South Carolina showed us that we can play that well against anybody else in the country. It was a little bit emotional for me knowing that this is the team we faced when I got our hurt and our team really faltered last year But once the game tipped-off we put that game behind us and went out and got the win."

Texas A&M guard Chelsea Jennings
What led to Missouri's late charge to force overtime...
"We let Morgan Stock get loose on the three, and our defense wasn't doing well which lead to open buckets, but I think we picked up our defense in overtime."

What the difference was in overtime...
"Courtney Walker, she didn't score much in regulation, but she scored a lot in the overtime, and that's what big players do."

On having a week off until the next game...
"I think it's a big deal. We can get our legs back under us, get some rest, and get ready for Alabama."

Missouri Head Coach Robin Pingeton

On having so many close games...
"I think A&M is just a really good team, a veteran team. We have some young kids there's a learning curve there, and they are in the SEC, night in and night out it's a good, tough ball game."

Adjustments made to slow the offense down...
"We just felt early on in the game, they were getting some second shot opportunities off transition, getting some good looks going downhill at the rim. They were getting the rebounds in transition and so we needed to do a better job of eliminating the second shot opportunities. Then we just needed to contest harder, we were moving on the catch versus on the flight of the ball. We just needed to work harder on being quicker on the pass."

On Courtney Walker's 10 overtime points...
"Not surprised, she is such a good player. We kept talking about her in our timeouts, even though she didn't have one of her typical games that she usually does, you can't forget about her because she is a veteran player, used to taking big time shots, and as the game got a little closer down the stretch, you saw her trying to make something happen for her team."