Women's Basketball Erases 13-Point Deficit To Win SEC Opener 77-72

Monday, January 2

College Station

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

Vanderbilt

Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics

Jan 02, 2017 | Women's Basketball

Box Score A&M 77, Vandy 72 - Final Stats (PDF)Photo Gallery

COLLEGE STATION- Texas A&M rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to defeat Vanderbilt 77-72 in a women's basketball game at Reed Arena on Monday night.

The Aggies (11-3, 1-0 SEC) have won all five of their SEC openers since joining the league in 2012-13, all five of which have come at Reed Arena.

Vanderbilt (10-4, 0-1 SEC) led 48-35 with 6:45 left in the third quarter, but the Aggies went on a 10-1 run to take the lead to start the fourth frame, and would never trail after that, hitting nine of their 10 fourth quarter free throws to seal victory.

It was Texas A&M's largest comeback since the Aggies erased a 13-point deficit to defeat No. 23 Tennessee 76-71 in overtime on February 7, 2016.

All five Texas A&M starters reached double figures in scoring, with Anriel Howard and Jasmine Lumpkin both contributing 17 points, and key energy during the comeback. Curtyce Knox matched her career-high with 16 points, Danni Williams added 15 and Khaalia Hillsman 10.

Howard and Hillsman both had double-doubles in the game, while Curtyce Knox fell just one assist short with nine.

Texas A&M had a 23-5 advantage in points off turnovers, committing just six and forcing 16 Vanderbilt miscues.

The Aggies return to action on Thursday, January 5 to face Georgia at 6 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Texas A&M returns home to Reed Arena on Thursday, January 12 to host Arkansas at 7 p.m.

QUICKIE NOTES

The Aggies rallied from a 13-point deficit to win, marking Texas A&M's first comeback of at least 13 points since the Aggies rallied from an identical 13-point deficit on Feb. 7, 2016 against No. 23 Tennessee (W, 76-71 OT)
Texas A&M is 5-0 in its five SEC Openers. Texas A&M has opened at home in all five of its SEC seasons
All five Aggie starters scored in double figures
The Aggies had at least four players score in double figures for the third straight game and fourth time in five games
The Aggies are now 7-1 at home this season and 49-8 at home since the start of the 2013-14 season. The Aggies are 141-5 against unranked teams at home since Feb. 2005
Khaalia Hillsman had her sixth double-double of the season
- She has scored in double figures in all 14 games this season and 27 times in her career.
- She has six 10+ rebound games this season and 13 in her career
Danni Williams scored in double figures for the 13^th time in 14 games this season.
Jasmine Lumpkin scored in double figures for the fifth time this season
Curtyce Knox scored in double figures for the second straight game and fourth time this season. She has seven career double-digit scoring games.
Anriel Howard picked up her ninth double-double of the season
- She scored in double figures for the third straight game and 11^th time this season. She has 17 career double-figure scoring games.
- She had 10+ rebounds for the 12^th time in 14 games this season
- She has either 10+ points or 10+ rebounds in every game this season
Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 320-132 in 14 seasons at Texas A&M and 728-295 in his Hall of Fame career. He ranks is tied for seventh among active coaches and is T-13^th all-time among Division I coaches in career wins.

POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening Statement…
"It wasn't the press [that got us back in the game] as much as we sped up the game. We had some good transitions. Then when I can keep Anriel [Howard] in the ballgame, she made some huge plays in the second half. We won because we turned the ball over six times. That's it. That is a veteran team playing at home. The crowd was with us. Danni [Williams] was two-for-twelve in the first half. Sometimes that is just the way it goes. She got to the line and she can hit that shot. We have been a good free throw shooting team all year, and that is what we had to start doing because they were calling out our set plays. We weren't executing. We had other options, but we weren't hitting them sometimes."

On Jasmine Lumpkin...
"We just let her go to work. She's starting to develop that Chelsea Jennings fifteen-foot jumper. She did a good job and hit the three point plays. She is a great free throw shooter. That is a kid who put a lot of time into the gym working on her shot, which she didn't have."

On defense…
"The pick and roll gave us some problems early and we were not doing a good job on that. That freshman point guard hurt us. We made a couple mistakes [on three point defense]. We made one mistake late that hurt us when they tied it up. Other than that, we were finding the shooters pretty good."

On comeback win…
"It didn't look good, even in the third quarter when we were coming back. In the fourth quarter, we made a couple of good stops. They missed some wide open looks, and we made some big time plays. That was as good of a comeback as we have had in a long, long time. That's the way this team is. Don't count us out. We will find a way. We couldn't do that on the road. We wouldn't have done that on the road. We did it at home because of the crowd. I think also because of the fear that they didn't want to see the fear of me after the game."

Texas A&M Junior Jasmine Lumpkin
On what ignited the comeback…
"During halftime, the coaches got on us about how we needed to pick it up and this is our SEC home opener. We haven't lost an SEC home opener in the last four seasons. Curtyce [Knox], our point guard, got us going in the first half, so we just had to step up."

On what changed for her mentally…
"I stayed confident and knew that I had to step up and try to help my team anyway I could. I knew I wasn't scoring, but I just stayed confident and took those shots and finally they started going in for me."

Texas A&M Senior Curtyce Knox
On Vanderbilt Turnovers…
"We knew we would have to press eventually in the game if we were down by double figures, but I think our press was [strong] when it needed to be. We got some key turnovers at the end of the game and that helped with our momentum. "

On first SEC win…
"It was very important. We have two away games on the road so winning at home was very important for us."

Vanderbilt Head Coach Stephanie White
Opening statement...
"I'm proud of our teams effort. When Texas A&M did what they did best and turned up the pressure on the defensive end of the floor, we weren't able to handle it. We fought. We clawed and we gave ourselves a chance. At the end of the day, you can't afford to give a team 21 points off of the free throw, 23 points off of turnovers and 16 second chance points. If we cut those numbers in half, we are in good shape. We have to do a better job of handling pressure and of maintaining our poise."

On turnovers…
"We have had a problem with turnovers. Part of it is that we are asking them to play faster than they have ever played, and making decisions and reads at a faster rate. Part of it is our guards are young. We play two freshman point guards and another freshman on the wing. There is no substitute for experience. We just have to be able to find our calm within the storm. We have to be able to find some poise. We have to do some little things better. We will get better."

On fourth quarter…
"I think we had five or six turnovers in the fourth quarter that led to easy buckets and some and-ones. Then they got the crowd into it, and sometimes it's hard to come back from that. A lot of times when that happened, we got a little paralyzed on the offensive side of the floor. We stopped moving and sharing the basketball. Everyone tried to take it back on their own. Some of that is inexperience, but {someone} has to come down through the pressure and calm us down. It is all a learning experience for our team and for us as a staff and we will continue to get better."