Texas A&M
Oklahoma City
Aggies Top Oklahoma City in Exhibition Game
Nov 05, 2016 | Women's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION- Texas A&M's women's basketball team defeated Oklahoma City 75-65 in an exhibition game at Reed Arena on Saturday. Five Aggies finished the game in double figures.
Texas A&M has now won nine straight exhibition games and 13th exhibition win in 14 tries, with the only loss in that span coming to the United States National Team. The Aggies dashed out to a 21-12 lead after the first quarter, and led 38-31 at halftime.
Curtyce Knox and Anriel Howard both posted double doubles for the Aggies, with Knox scoring 13 points with 13 assists, both of which would have been career-highs, and Howard scoring 10 points with 17 rebounds. Neither of the two have had a regular-season double-double.
They were joined in double-figure scoring by Danni Williams, whose team-high 19 points where the most for an Aggie in an exhibition game since Danielle Adams had 24 in 2010-11. Khaalia Hillsman added 18 points and Jasmine Lumpkin had 10 points.
Taylor Cooper had five steals.
The Aggies open the regular season on Sunday, November 13, by hosting Central Arkansas, a team that went 28-4 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2015-16. Tip is slated for 6 p.m. with an SEC Network Plus broadcast.
QUICKIE NOTES
• Texas A&M has now won nine straight exhibition games and 13th exhibition win in 14 tries, with the only loss in that span coming to the United States National Team.
• Two Aggies had double-doubles, with Anriel Howard registering 10 points and 17 rebounds and Curtyce Knox picking up 13 points and 13 assists. Neither have had a regular-season double-double in their career.
• Five Aggies scored in double figures
• Curtyce Knox had 13 assists, which is a Texas A&M exhibition game record, and would have been a career-high if it came in a regular game. She has had 5+ assists in her last four starts in the competition season, dating back to 2015. She would have set a career-high with 13 points and two blocks as well.
• Knox's 13 assists are the most for an Aggie in any type of game since Jordan Jones had 15 on Jan. 2, 2015.
• Anriel Howard set a Texas A&M exhibition game record with 17 rebounds. Howard had averaged 20.0 rebounds over the final two games of the 2015-16 season.
• Danni Williams scored 19 points, which would have been a career-high if it came in a regular season game, and the most in a Texas A&M exhibition . She has one career double-digit scoring game.
• Khaalia Hillsman had 18 points. She had eight double-figure scoring games last season.
• Jasmine Lumpkin scored 10 points. She had one double figure scoring game last season
• Taylor Cooper's five steals are the most for an Aggie in an exhibition game since Damitria Buchanan had six in 2008-09.
• The Aggies open the regular season on Sunday, November 13, by hosting Central Arkansas, a team that went 28-4 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2015-16. Tip is slated for 6 p.m. with an SEC Network Plus broadcast.
QUICKIE QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening Statement…
"Give them a lot of credit. They were running their offense, spreading the floor, doing a good job and we were just allowing the passes to be made. The [Daniela] Wallen kid, she's a D1 player. She's playing NAIA but that kid could play Division 1 for a lot of teams and just give that kid a lot of credit. I think adversity is what this team is going to have to respond to and I think we did a good job late in the third quarter. I started calling Danni's [Williams] number, because everybody else was missing wide open shots. Danni started that string at the end of the third quarter and carried on to the fourth and so I just kept calling the number. Eventually we've got to have balance like we had with five kids in double figures. I think that's what it's going to have to be all year.
On the play of Curtyce Knox…
"I was proud of Curtyce [Knox] in there, playing that many minutes, she's going to have to do it all year. 13 assists and two turnovers, that's a pretty good night. She had a couple big baskets."
Curtyce Knox, Texas A&M Senior Guard
On making corrections over the second half…
"We made corrections in the second half, and I think that by the 4th quarter we were playing as a team and we got it done. I don't think we got any turnovers off the press, but we slowed them down. The harder you play on defense the more opportunities you get on offense."
On creating opportunities for the Aggies…
"I saw the score, and I knew it was up to me as the point guard to create for my teammates the easiest shots we could get."
Danni Williams, Texas A&M Sophomore Guard
On moving forward as a team…
"We didn't execute and we didn't play defense in the first half, so we tried to have a clean slate in the second half. They were making runs, and we couldn't seem to get a stop, so we had to keep going."
