Surging Aggies Win Third Straight Versus Vanderbilt, 76-58

Thursday, February 10

Bryan-College Station

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

14-9,4-7SEC

Vanderbilt

12-13,3-8SEC

Vanderbilt

Texas A&M

Photo by: Kate Luffman/Texas A&M Athletics

Feb 10, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Brandon Collins, Athletics Communications

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M women's basketball won its third-straight game, taking down Vanderbilt, 76-58, on Thursday night inside Reed Arena.

Kayla Wells and Qadashah Hoppie led the Maroon & White (14-9, 4-7 SEC) with 19 points apiece. The duo combined to go 15-of-26 from the field and accounted for half of the A&M offensive production. Aaliyah Patty and Destiny Pitts both hauled in eight rebounds and McKinzie Green led the effort from the bench with six points. Jordan Nixon orchestrated the offense, dishing eight dimes and only committing one turnover.

The Aggies had a field day in the paint, outscoring the Commodores (12-13, 3-8 SEC) 32-18 down low. The Maroon & White held Vandy to just 32.1% from the field and forced 13 turnovers from its opponent. A&M went a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity stripe, marking the second time this season it has gone 100% from the line.

The Aggies dominated the first quarter, holding Vandy to 24% from the field. Both Patty and Wells had six points a piece to lead the team as it took an 18-11 lead into the second frame.

In the second quarter, Hoppie took the reins and poured in seven points for the Maroon & White. The Aggies went shot for shot with the Commodores and boasted a 38-29 lead heading into the break.

The Maroon & White started the new half on a 6-0 run and didn't give up a field goal to Vanderbilt until the 6:12 mark of the third. Once the Commodores hit their first bucket, they built a 7-0 run of their own. However, the Vandy run was not enough to ultimately cut into the lead as the Aggies built back their nine-point advantage, 53-44, to set the stage for the fourth quarter.

Vandy began the period with a vengeance, chopping the lead down to five, 57-52. However, a four-point play by Destiny Pitts at the 7:21 mark halted the Vanderbilt momentum and gave A&M all the cushion it needed as the game wound down. The Aggies' perfection at the line, stubborn defense and dominance in the paint led to a 76-58 win.

Up Next
The Texas A&M women's basketball team hosts LSU in its annual BTHO Breast Cancer game on Sunday, Feb. 13 at 2 p.m. inside Reed Arena.

POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES

Texas A&M moves up to 14-9 overall this season and 4-7 in conference play.
The Aggies are now 9-4 all-time versus Vanderbilt and have won the last eight matchups against the Commodores.

TEAM NOTES

With 8:39 remaining in the first quarter, Aaliyah Patty made a layup to give the Aggies a 4-2 advantage. The Maroon & White did not surrender their lead for the remainder of the game.
The Aggies had a season-high free throw percentage of 100%, going 12-of-12 from the free-throw line. A&M was perfect from the line for the second time this season, previously going 9-of-9 from the charity stripe against Auburn on Jan. 16.
The Maroon & White won the battle on the glass, 34-30, marking the 15th time this year that A&M has outrebounded its opponent (13-2).
Texas A&M went 53.7% from the field, which is the second-best field goal percentage of the year for the Aggies.
The Maroon & White produced the second-most assists as a team this season (21)
A&M committed the second-fewest turnovers this year against the Commodores (8).
The Aggies outscored their opponent in the paint for the 10th time this season. They are now 7-3 when winning the battle down low.
Texas A&M utilized a starting lineup of Qadashah Hoppie, Jordan Nixon, Kayla Wells, Destiny Pitts and Aaliyah Patty for the fifth time this season (5-0).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Kayla wells tallied 19 points. The Dallas native has now scored 10-or-more points in 86 games throughout her career and is fifth all-time on the A&M scoring list (1,687).
Qadashah Hoppie also scored 19 points, her second-most on the season.
Jordan Nixon matched a season-high eight assists.
Women's Basketball Hall-of-Famer Gary Blair moves up to 852-342 in his career with a 444-179 record at Texas A&M.

POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening Statement…
"We shot the ball pretty well. When we run our stuff and when we can isolate the post players, or I can isolate [Kayla] Wells or [Qadashah] Hoppie we're a pretty good ball club. This is the way I want to play. I want four people in double figures, if the fifth gets there, that's fine. We got four tonight. That's all we thought about. Now we'll think about that next number in the morning when we get to film, and we'll try to find that drive for five. Whatever it takes to get to five conference wins."

Graduate student Kayla Wells
On Texas A&M's defensive effort…
"I think we were really keying in on their scorers. I think Q [Hoppie] did a really good job on [Brinae] Alexander. I think we did well as a team of guarding them."

On improving their win streak to three games...
"It was really big. Every single game is really big. Just like Coach Blair says, 'We want win number four', and we got win number four tonight. Tomorrow is going to be about win number five, so we're just taking it a game at a time."

Graduate student Qadashah Hoppie
On the fourth quarter...
"We needed that 20-point quarter to finish it off. We knew that we needed that to extend the lead and not have those real tight, close games like we've been having at the end. We just focused on executing. Executing our offense as much as we can and get those offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds to finish it off."

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