No. 12 Women Pick Up Fourth Straight Win, 68-54, Over LSU

Thursday, February 18

College Station

8:00 PM

Texas A&M

19-7, 9-4SEC

LSU

8-18, 2-11SEC

LSU

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Feb 18, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION- No. 12 Texas A&M moved into sole possession of second place in the SEC standings with a 68-54 win over LSU in a women's basketball game at Reed Arena on Thursday. The win was the Aggies' fourth straight.

The Aggies (19-7, 9-4 SEC) never trailed in the game, breaking a 9-9 tie late in the first quarter with an 11-2 run, and led 34-24 at the break.

LSU (8-18, 2-11 SEC) cut the deficit to three with 8:18 left in the third quarter, but the Aggies rattled off a 12-4 run, with A&M seniors Chelsea Jennings, Jordan Jones, Courtney Walker and Courtney Williams scoring all 12 points of the run.

Williams led the Aggies with 17 points, and was joined in double figures by Walker with 14 and Jennings with 13. Jones matched her season-high with nine assists.

The Aggies next head to Vanderbilt on Sunday, February 21 at 4 p.m. on SEC Network. The Aggies' final home game of the regular season is Sunday, February 28 at 3 p.m. against Kentucky, with ESPN providing television coverage.

QUICKIE NOTES
• Texas A&M is alone in second place in the SEC. The Aggies are 19-7 overall and 9-4 in the SEC. LSU is 8-18 overall and 2-11 in SEC games.
• The Aggies have won four straight games.
• Courtney Walker broke Takia Starks' Texas A&M record with her 130th career start
• Walker scored in double figures for the 18th straight game and 25th time in 26 games this season. She has 99 career double-digit games, which ranks second at Texas A&M.
• Courtney Williams had her 69th career double-digit scoring game, which ties her for fifth at Texas A&M with Toccara Williams (2000-04).
o Williams has three straight double-digit scoring games and 14 this season
• Chelsea Jennings had double digit points for the second straight game. She has 12 double-digit games this season and 16 in her career.
• Jordan Jones tied a season-high with nine assists
• Texas A&M has now mathematically guaranteed at least a single-bye in the SEC Tournament.
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 714-289 in his Hall of Fame career, and 306-126 in 13 seasons at Texas A&M. Among Division I coaches, he ranks 13th all-time and is eighth among active coaches in career wins.
• The Aggies are 12-2 at Reed Arena this season and 201-72 all-time at Reed. The Aggies are 132-4 against unranked teams at home since Feb. 2005.
• The Aggies next head to Vanderbilt on Sunday, February 21 at 4 p.m. on SEC Network. The Aggies' final home game of the regular season is Sunday, February 28 at 3 p.m. against Kentucky, with ESPN providing television coverage.

QUOTES

Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening Statement...
LSU was slowing down the game and spreading it in. Just trying to run a little offense, which was a two man game, and hitting their shooters in the corners and it was pretty effective. We couldn't guard it. We had to switch to a zone. Give LSU credit for trying something different, because they didn't have the firepower that they normally have. They made some adjustments in the ballgame and we struggled guarding it. My bigs couldn't guard their littler players we had to go small and that was a mismatch for them. Chelsea was trying to guard Hyder and that's a mismatch for them."

Play from the bench...
"Our bench played great. They were 10-of-21. I think Curtyce (Knox) did some great things in the first half and we didn't need her in the second half.
Chelsea (Jennings) just does her thing as always. It's good to see a senior who doesn't have a big ego and doesn't say 'I have to be the star'. She just plays her role for the team."

On Jordan Jones return...
"Jones didn't score very well but those nine assists were solid for us tonight. It could have been 13 or 14 if we would have hit some easy shots. I thought she was solid tonight. Defense, she was her normal Jordan tonight. She took a charge, got a couple of steals and almost got another charge late in the game. It was just good to get her back in the lineup especially when we went with that spread defense late in the game."

Takeaways...
"I like the way that we can win and stay ahead of the game even though we weren't at our best. We are going to see two more zone teams in a row with Auburn and Vanderbilt. Vandy is small just like this team tonight, so our bigs have got to score early to get their confidence up and to draw fouls. We were doing a great job in the first half drawing fouls. It wasn't our best free throw shooting night. We gave up too many second chance points. We have to do better."

Texas A&M Senior Courtney Williams
On A&M's 4^th quarter performance...
"Our intensity on offense was a lot better. We know that we can score, but I think we needed to box-out on the defensive end and get the rebound."

On taking sole possession of 2^nd place in the SEC…
"We have to finish it out. Those road games are going to be hard, especially at Vanderbilt, so we have to be as focused as we have been this whole season in order to not blow it. We have to focus especially if we want a top 4 seed and a double-bye in the SEC tournament."

On Jordan Jones' return…
"It felt great [to have her back]. She controls the game on defense and offense. It's nice having her leadership on the court. Everybody on the court is comfortable with her because she's our leader and point guard."

LSU Head Coach Nikki Fargas
Opening statement…
"For us, we have been that team that struggled offensively, so for us to get to 54 points is pretty good for our team. Coach Blair does a great job of mixing things up and changing the course of the game. I Offensively, we struggled to score and get the ball into that one-on-one situation that we had going in the third quarter. Our defensive effort was initially there, but A&M did such a great job in the offensive glass. Their ability to rebound the ball was impressive."

On 2^nd half offensive tactics…
"Don't take a shot until 15 seconds has gone off the clock. The pace of the game, especially in the first half, was definitely in A&M's favor. You're at Courtney Williams' and Courtney Walker's mercy. I'll be glad when those two graduate, I tell you. Those two are two very explosive players. You don't want to allow them to get going because they will put the team on their back and change the direction of the game which they did. We wanted to really slow the game down and be more deliberate in the play action we wanted to run offensively."