Aggies Tie Program Record in Season Opener; Roll Past Islanders, 87-54

Tuesday, November 9

Bryan-College Station

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

A&M-Corpus Christi

Photo by: Kate Luffman/Texas A&M Athletics

Nov 09, 2021 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Neomi Brown, Athletics Communications

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 23 Texas A&M women's basketball team (1-0) dominated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (0-1) 87-54 behind a record-tying barrage of 3-pointers in its season opener Tuesday night at Reed Arena.

Spearheading the Aggies' attack, Kayla Wells led the Maroon & White with 18 points and four assists while shooting 63.6% from the field. Also contributing to the offense were Jordan Nixon (17), Destiny Pitts (11) and Qadashah Hoppie (10) who each scored in double figures. Nixon aided the Aggie offense with eight assists. A&M was led on defense by Aaliyah Patty, who contributed four steals and three blocks. Additionally, Sydnee Roby added two blocks while Sahara Jones collected three steals.

Twelve different players scored for Texas A&M, with the team shooting at a 47.6% clip from the field. The Aggies capitalized on the Islanders' 14 turnovers, scoring 17 points off those opportunities. The Aggie defense allowed no 3-pointers throughout the game (0-13) for the first time since March 2, 2017 when A&M stifled the Florida offense. On the other side of the ball, Texas A&M recorded 12 made 3-pointers, tying the single-game school record with Nixon and Pitts each adding three apiece.

A&M-Corpus Christi led the game early on at 9-5, but the Aggies responded with a pair of 3-pointers from Nixon as well as a layup from Wells to tie the game with 4:37 left in the first quarter. The Aggies pulled away from the Islanders, with back-to-back threes from Wells and Hoppie, and the first period came to a close with the score at 25-17. Starting the second period off strong defensively, the Aggies held the Islanders to just two points in the first three minutes. With continued success offensively during the second quarter, the Maroon & White ended the half with a 45-31 lead.

Texas A&M started off the second half quickly with a three from Pitts fifteen seconds in. The Aggie offense continued to thrive with the help of Wells and Hoppie, who contributed five and four points, respectively, in the third quarter. Heading into the final period of regulation, the Maroon & White led the Islanders 65-41. Keslynn Oxendine entered the game and immediately made an impact, scoring back-to-back threes to finalize the 87-54 result.

UP NEXT
The No. 23 Texas A&M women's basketball team continues its campaign in a non-conference matchup against Southern on Thursday at 7 p.m. inside Reed Arena.

POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES

Texas A&M opens the season 1-0 for the ninth-consecutive season while Texas A&M-Corpus Christi drops to 0-1.
A&M is now 16-3 in season-opening games under Gary Blair.
The Aggies extend their non-conference win streak to 17-straight dating back to Dec. 1, 2019.
The Maroon & White maintain a dominant 6-0 lead over the Islanders in the all-time series.

TEAM NOTES

The Aggies shot at a 47.6% clip from the field and 50.0% from beyond the arc.
Texas A&M tied its program record for 3-pointers made in a single game with 12, last achieved against Northwestern State on Dec. 28, 2020.
A&M's defense swatted eight shots as a whole and swiped 11 steals in the game.
On the defensive end, A&M held the Islanders to 30.0% shooting from the floor and held TAMU-CC 0-for-13 from 3-point land.
The Aggies held an opponent to zero made threes for the first time since March 2, 2017 against the Florida Gators.
The Maroon & White offense amassed 23 assists on 30 made baskets, with four Aggies tallying three-or-more dishes.
The Aggies had four players in double-figure points for the first time since March 22, 2020 against Troy in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Texas A&M opened the 2021-22 season with a starting lineup of Destiny Pitts, Jordan Nixon, Kayla Wells, McKinzie Green and Sydnee Roby (1-0).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Five Aggies recorded their first points in the Maroon & White (Sydnee Roby, Qadashah Hoppie, Jada Malone, Keslynn Oxendine, Aaliyah Patty).
Jordan Nixon opened her redshirt-junior campaign with 18 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field. The New York City native also led the team in assists with eight and submitted a game-high +34 plus/minus.
Kayla Wells was the game-high scorer, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Aaliyah Patty dominated on the defensive end, finishing as the team-high rebounder with eight boards, adding four steals and three blocks.
Destiny Pitts (11) and Qadashah Hoppie (10) rounded out the group of four Aggies scoring double-figures.
Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Gary Blair won the first game of his final season as a coach and is now 839-333 in his career.
Blair has totaled 431 wins while coaching at Texas A&M and is eight wins away from passing men's basketball's Shelby Metcalf for most wins in Aggie basketball history.
Blair maintains a 12-1 lead in matchups with Islander coach Royce Chadwick.

POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening Statement…
"First, I would like to give a lot of credit to (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Head Coach) Royce Chadwick. He had them ready to play, particularly on the boards, which hurt us. We tried to leap with them instead of box them out, and since they missed so many threes, there were a lot of long rebounds that we didn't get. They ran their offense very well, but the three-ball was the difference maker for us tonight. We went 12-for-24 against what was primarily a man-to-man defense. Normally, we aren't going to shoot that many, but I was pleased because all of our shots were in the flow of the game. Our point guards gave us 12 assists and only had two turnovers tonight. Jordan (Nixon) is just a solid player. I thought she had a great game, and we can find a lot of positions for her. I also liked how McKinzie (Green) was set in the offense by facilitating. We had nine players with double-digit minutes and we were able to play all 14 kids tonight. Overall I felt like we did a pretty good job, but we're going to continue trying to find what's going to work for us."

On Tuesday being his last first game…
"I guess it is my last first game officially, but the exhibition we played was a game to me. The scrimmage we played before that exhibition was a game. I coach every situation like it might be my last, because I noticed that (Rutgers Head Coach) C. Vivian Stringer took a leave of absence because of COVID-19 this year. You never know, this is the world that we live in. I was pleased with how we played until the last three minutes of the first half, and I thought we played very well up until then. We were able to get the win, but we have things that we need to clean up before we play Southern on Thursday."

Graduate guard Kayla Wells
On her excellent shooting performance…
"I feel like I was just confident today. I came out early before the game and got up a few extra shots, and all of my shots were going in, so I felt like it was going to be a good day. When you make your first shot, it feels like the rim gets a lot wider. We kept looking for the best shots, and we kept finding each other, so that was definitely an important part of the game."

Redshirt junior guard Jordan Nixon
On the team's ability to work together…
"We're trying to get one percent better every day. We want to get one more assist. Turn the ball over one fewer time. It's all about finding that chemistry. Chemistry is everything, and sometimes I feel like people overlook that, but we have it. It's going to continue building as long as we continue to put our energy into it. Whatever you focus on is what will improve, so it all starts with us."

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