Women’s Basketball Drops Defensive Slugfest to Florida, 55-48

Sunday, January 1

Bryan-College Station

1:00 PM

Texas A&M

5-7,0-2SEC

Florida

12-3,1-1SEC

Florida

Texas A&M

Photo by: Ethan Mito/Texas A&M Athletics

Jan 01, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Brandon Collins, Athletics Communications

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M women's basketball team fell to the Florida Gators, 55-48, on New Year's Day inside Reed Arena on Sunday.

The Maroon & White (5-7, 0-2 SEC) held an opponent under 60 points for the seventh time this season inside Reed Arena and forced the Gators (12-3, 1-1 SEC) to their lowest scoring output of the year. Aaliyah Patty led the way with a team-high 15 points. Sahara Jones pitched in 10 points and grabbed a team-best six boards. Eriny Kindred had a career-high nine points and hauled in four boards.

Patty scored the first four points of the game, giving the Aggies an early 4-0 advantage in the first quarter. Both offenses struggled to find their footing the rest of the frame as the quarter ended with a 10-8 lead for the Gators.

The second frame began with a Mya Petticord baseline runner that evened the game, 10-10. Jones led the way with five points in the second as the A&M offense shot 50% (6-of-12) from the field in the quarter. However, Florida would push its lead to five, 27-22, draining its last three shots of the half.

The Gators quickly scored to open the second half to make the score 29-22, but the Aggies went on an 8-2 run with Kindred scoring six during the A&M push to cut into the lead at the 4:08 mark in the third. The two squads would trade a couple of shots before Patty hit a 3-pointer from the left wing, giving A&M a 36-33 lead with 2:30 left in the third. Both defenses bowed up the rest of the way and the score would remain heading into the final 10.

With 4:45 left in the game, the Aggies and Gators were knotted up at 44-44. Florida would ultimately take control of the game with timely 3-pointers and momentum seizing offensive rebounds that culminated in a 55-48 victory for the visiting team.

Up Next
Texas A&M heads to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on No. 9 LSU at 8 p.m. inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES

Texas A&M moves to 5-7 in the 2022-23 regular season.
The Aggies' overall record against the Gators moves to 11-3.
Joni Taylor's career record moves to 145-82 all-time and to 5-7 in her first season with the Aggies.

TEAM NOTES

The Aggies held the Gators to 2-of-13 (15%). This marks the sixth time this season A&M has held an opponent under 20% from deep.
The Maroon & White swatted away five blocks to Florida's one.
The Aggies held an opponent under 60 points inside Reed Arena for the seventh time this season.
The Maroon & White held Florida to just two fast break points, which is only the third time this year that Florida has been held to single digits in the category.
Texas A&M utilized a starting lineup of Sydney Bowles, Kay Kay Green, Eriny Kindred, Sahara Jones and Aaliyah Patty for the fourth time this season (1-3).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Eriny Kindred

Filled the stat sheet as she registered career-bests in points (9) and assists (2).
Logged a career-high 27 minutes.

Aaliyah Patty

Led the team in scoring for the second time this season with 15 points, the fourth game this year she scored in double-digits.

Sydney Bowles

Brought down five rebounds and tied a career best with four assists.
Played all 40 minutes of the game for the first time in her career.
Paced the team in steals (2).

Jada Malone

Led the team in rebounds for the first time this season, collecting six.

Sahara Jones

Led the team in rebounds (6) for the third time this season.
Contributed 10 points, the sixth game this season she's scored 10-or-more points.

POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Joni Taylor
On how the team played…
"I am pleased with how we played. I thought we had a clean game on both sides of the ball. I thought our offensive execution was much better. We talk a lot about teams in this conference, you've got to make them go to plan b and we didn't do that against South Carolina, but we did that today. Florida makes seven threes a game and they only made two which were two crucial ones they got at the end. Credit to them and Kelly Rae Finley for putting them in that position."

On the beginning of SEC play…
"We're moving in the right direction. It would have been really easy to come in here after playing on the road at South Carolina and feel sorry for ourselves and not get anything done. We had two really good days of practice on Friday and Saturday, and it showed today. It's about showing up every day and asking how we can be better today than we were yesterday. Just reminding them of things that we talk about and what it's going to take. I think we're continuing to move in the right direction."

Junior Guard Kay Kay Green
On the Team's Overall Effort…
"In terms of overall effort, I think we did a pretty good job. We played a good three and a half quarters. In the fourth quarter, towards the five-minute mark, we had a couple of empty possessions, and we couldn't capitalize on those going down the stretch. We need to find a way to adjust down the stretch so we can close out and get some wins. A lot of our SEC games are going to be close, and we need to find a way to keep pushing and get a win."

Senior Forward Aaliyah Patty
On What Needed to Happen to Close Out the Game…
"We let too many things happen in a row. We needed to get offensive rebounds and defend the three better; they made two big threes near the end. The little things, such as boxing out and closing out are things that we have to be better at in the end of the game because that can win or lose a game for us. Tonight, we didn't get the good outcome, but we're going to learn from those mistakes and be better next game."

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