No. 11 Women Fall 71-58 To No. 15 Kentucky

Sunday, February 28

College Station

3:00 PM

Texas A&M

21-8, 11-5SEC

Kentucky

21-6, 10-6SEC

Kentucky

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Feb 28, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION- No. 11 Texas A&M fell 71-58 to No. 15 Kentucky in a women's basketball game at Reed Arena. Despite the loss, A&M finished tied for second in the SEC and is the No. 2 seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament.

Despite the Aggies (21-8, 11-5 SEC) jumping out to a 10-1 lead, Kentucky (21-6, 10-6 SEC) rallied back to trail only 15-14 at the end of the first quarter. Kentucky led 30-28 at the half, and never trailed in the third and fourth quarter.

It was Senior Day for the Aggies, as five A&M seniors played their last regular season game at Reed Arena. Seniors Courtney Walker (16), Courtney Williams (13) and Chelsea Jennings (10) all reached double figures in scoring, while senior Jordan Jones added 10 assists. Senior Rachel Mitchell came off the bench to have six points as well.

The Aggies return to action on Friday, March 4 at 5 p.m. CT in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla. As the No. 2 seed, the Aggies face the winner of the Tennessee-Arkansas game in the quarterfinals.

QUICKIE NOTES
• The Aggies finish the regular season at 21-8 and in a tie for second place in the SEC at 11-5. Kentucky finishes the regular season at 21-7 and 10-6 in the SEC.
• Courtney Williams scored in double figures for the fifth time in six games, 16th time this season, and 71st time overall. She ranks 5th at A&M in career double-digit scoring games
• Courtney Walker scored in double figures for the 21st consecutive game, 28th time in 29 games this season, and 102nd time in her career. o Walker needs nine points to tie Lisa Branch (1992-96) for second on A&M's career scoring list and 44 to tie Takia Starks (2005-09) for the all-time record.
• Jordan Jones had 10+ assists for the second time this season and 18th time in her career
o She is now alone in seventh with 221 career steals, breaking a tie with Von Bunn (1976-79, 219)
o She drew two charges, bringing her season total to 40
• Chelsea Jennings had double-figure points for the 14th time this season and 19th time in her career
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 716-290 in his career and 308-127 in 13 seasons at Texas A&M. Among Division I coaches, he is t-13th all-time and t-8th among active coaches.
• The Aggies next head to the SEC Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla. The No. 2-seeded Aggies take on the winner of the Tennessee-Arkansas game at 5 p.m. CT on Friday, March 4 in the quarterfinals.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening statement…
"This was a great victory for us and the team has just worked so hard the last three weeks of the season to try to become their best and I'm just really proud of them. It's about as much fun as you can have coaching when you've got a group of people that really want to play for each other and work hard for each other and meet challenges together. I give the players credit, they changed their attitudes around and their effort to finish the regular season on a six game winning streak. We did three really tough road games Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Texas A&M. Going 3-0 down the stretch on the road is really significant so super proud of our players and excited to go to Jacksonville and see what we can do there."

On game plan…
"Well specifically we wanted to get more offensive rebounds because we think that really speaks to hustle. A jump shooting team, the way that Texas A&M plays offense, sometimes they're missing shots and you're in rebounding position and you can do a good job on the defensive boards. Although I was really happy, I thought we finished possessions, we were particularly good today on the defensive glass but I'm so proud of the offensive glass because you really have to go. The focus was hustle and to try to outhustle Texas A&M."

On Courtney Walker…
"She's a great player, has been for four years. It's been an honor to compete against her, she's really, really good, I know she'll be a great pro. She's a great student and she'll be a great professional whatever she chooses to do."

Kentucky Junior Makayla Epps
On team dynamic…
"We were down in the conference, 4-6, with our backs against the wall and I'm sure a lot of people probably didn't think we'd go on a six game winning streak, closing out the regular season. Our coach just told us we became a team. We're truly a team and not a lot of people can say that about their team right now. We're truly a team like we love each other, we work hard for each other, we work hard for our coaches. We all have the same goal, we're all on the same page, we know what we want to do every night when we face an opponent and we just like playing for each other. We like winning as a team and that's what it's all about."

On importance of defense in third quarter surge…
"It's really important, especially playing a team like Texas A&M when they've got high level guards, guards that'll probably be pros here soon and Courtney Walker and Williams and Jones. It's just a team effort we know we've got a really good game plan defending the perimeter in the post the coaching staff put in a great game plan for us and I thought we executed it well. Of course we made mistakes at times but overall I feel like we were there on every shot to contest and then these two were monsters on the rebound."

Texas A&M Senior Jordan Jones
On playing during Senior Day…
"Most of the seniors were very emotional as well as the underclassmen, because we are a very close ball club and love each other dearly. Once the ref threw the ball up, it was strictly about basketball, so we put all the senior night emotions to the side and just worried about the task at hand which was Kentucky. We left it all on the court, but we just came up short today."

On heading to the SEC Tournament…
"[The seniors'] job is to get the underclassmen to jump on board with us and have the same mentality and same mindset that we have which is Coach Starkey's 'NBA: Next Best Action". Our next best action is going to Jacksonville, Fla. and worrying about who we're up against the next game."

On Kentucky's defense…
"They were very aggressive on Courtney Walker and Courtney Williams. They did a really good job of trying to deny us much as possible."

Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening…
"Obviously their inside players killed us. Akhator had a great game. When you look at [Akhator and Jennings], between the two of them, they out rebounded our team. Today, this was a toughness game which they wanted a whole lot more than us. I think we wanted it, but they played tougher."

On A&M's offensive performance…
"Walker had as good of shots as she's ever had. It just wasn't her night. She was moving and shooting shots that she normally knocks down. I thought we got the shots we wanted in the ball game, but we didn't hit them."