No. 16 Women's Basketball Opens SEC Play With 73-62 Win Over Georgia

Sunday, January 3

College Station

4:00 PM

Texas A&M

11-3, 1-0SEC

Georgia

12-2, 0-1SEC

Georgia

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Jan 03, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION- No. 16 Texas A&M opened SEC play with a win for the fourth straight season, downing Georgia 73-62 in a women's basketball game at Reed Arena.

The Aggies (11-3, 1-0 SEC) have opened conference play with a win in each of their four years in the SEC, and have now won 24 of their last 26 home games.

Georgia (12-2, 0-1 SEC) jumped out to an early nine point lead in the first quarter, but A&M responded with a 23-4 run that put the Aggies ahead 27-17 with 4:52 left in the first half and 33-26 at the break. The Lady Bulldogs never got any closer than five points for the rest of the game, while the Aggies led by as many as 19 in the second half.

Three Aggies reached double figures in scoring, led by Courtney Walker, who had 20 points. Walker moved into sole possession of fourth place on A&M's career scoring list with 1,635 points, passing Lisa Langston (1984-86, 1,615 points). Chelsea Jennings had 12 and Jordan Jones had 10 points, to go along with five assists.

Courtney Williams also moved up a spot on A&M's career points list, passing Morenike Atunrase (2004-08, 1,317 points) for 10^th. Williams has 1,324 career points.

The Aggies return to action on Thursday, January 7 at Arkansas with a 7 p.m. tip, set for SEC Network Whip-Around coverage. The Aggies return home on January 14 to host Ole Miss at 7 p.m.

QUICKIE NOTES
• Texas A&M is 11-3 on the season and 1-0 in SEC play. Georgia is 12-2 on the season and 0-1 in SEC play
• Texas A&M is now 4-0 in SEC openers, all of which have come at Reed Arena
• The Aggies are 24-2 in their last 26 home games, and are 36-4 at Reed Arena since the start of the 2013-14 season. The Aggies are 196-71 all-time at Reed Arena.
• A&M is 130-4 against unranked teams at home since Feb. 2005
• A&M took control of the game with 23-4 run in the first half, giving A&M a 27-17 lead with 4:52 left in the second quarter
• Courtney Walker passed Lisa Langston (1982-86, 1,615 points) for fourth on A&M's career points list. Walker has 1,635 career points.
o Walker scored 20+ points for the fifth time this season and the 24th time in her career o Walker scored in double figures for the sixth straight game, 13th time this season and 86th time in her career
• Courtney Williams has passed Morenike Atunrase (2004-08, 1,317 points) for 10th on A&M's career points list. Williams has 1,324 career points.
• Jordan Jones scored in double figures for the fifth time this season and 26th time in her career
• Chelsea Jennings scored in double figures for the fourth time this season and ninth time in her career
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 706-285 in his career and 298-122 in 13 seasons at Texas A&M. He is 15th all-time and eighth among active coaches in career wins.
• The Aggies return to action on Thursday, January 7 at Arkansas with a 7 p.m. tip, set for SEC Network Whip-Around coverage. The Aggies return home on January 14 to host Ole Miss at 7 p.m.

Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening Statement
"We got off to a slow start. But in the middle part of the game we were as good as we have been in a long time, especially defensively. As usual, I thought our shot selection was pretty good the majority of the game, but the disappointing part was the 19 turnovers, especially at the end of the game. We were just lucky they didn't hit a few shots in a row to get back into the game. But we'll learn from that."

On the SEC Opener…
"This was a huge game for both us and Georgia because we both wanted to get off to a strong start after we had good non-conference seasons. When you hold a team to 30% from the field and 22% from the three and you're doing your job. Along with winning the board battle, our bench was the difference in this game. We outscored them 28-13 and we'll take that as a 'W' and move on to Arkansas."

On Dani Williams' play off the bench…
"Dani's three might have been the difference in the first half because we were not getting much until then. She's is a pure shooter. Sometimes she struggles getting the percentage shot up so she needed that. In the first half she had three turnovers and no assists and that was big for us."

Texas A&M Senior Guard Jordan Jones
On SEC play…
"Its the last go-round in the SEC, and everybody by this time has bumps and bruises and everyone is going to be beat up. But its about who wants to be the toughest and who is going to be the last man standing at the end of SEC play. I realized that my team needs me and it was minor and nothing major so I just had to put the injuries behind me and go out there and compete."

On the Slow Start…
"We struggled with execution and making shots early on. We struggled with this last year also. But, we settled in and after the first quarter everybody was a little more relaxed and we started hitting our shots."

Georgia Head Coach Joni Taylor
On Texas A&M adjusting to Georgia's gameplan…
"I think we just relaxed a little bit. We came out and we were pretty aggressive and our shot was falling. I think [Texas A&M] was a little confused because we came out in our zone. It's a zone that's done a little different than what we've done in the past. They adjusted to it and we didn't. That's pretty much when [Texas A&M] went on their run. [Texas A&M] subbed in Danni [Williams] and we let her loose for a couple 3's and didn't know where she was. In this league there are good shooters every night out and you can't let them get open shots. So we allowed [Texas A&M] to do what they do well. Give [Texas A&M] credit, they are a really good team with really good players, so you got to pick your poison at times too. We can't give shooters wide open shots."