Women's Basketball Drops Road Contest at Vanderbilt, 88-79

Sunday, January 29

Nashville, Tenn.

12:00 PM

Texas A&M

6-13,1-8SEC

Vanderbilt

10-12,1-7SEC

Texas A&M

Vanderbilt

Photo by: Ethan Mito/Texas A&M Athletics

Jan 29, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Thomas Dick, Athletics Communications

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Texas A&M women's basketball team dropped an 88-79 decision in Sunday's game against Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium.

Aaliyah Patty paced the Aggies' (6-13, 1-8 SEC) offense with a career-high 21 points. She made 9-of-10 from the field and added four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. Kay Kay Green recorded double-digits in the scoring column for the fourth-consecutive game with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range. Janiah Barker had nine points, nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks and a steal.

Texas A&M's season-high 79 points was not enough to counter a school-record 41 points by Vanderbilt's (10-12, 1-7 SEC) Ciaja Harbison who hit 14-of-19 from the field, including 2-of-4 from long range, and 11-of-13 from the foul line.

The Aggies started the game by hitting 5-of-7 from the field to build a 12-7 lead at the 4:24 mark of the first quarter. The Maroon & White allowed Vanderbilt to stay in striking distance with an 8-of-10 performance for the Commodores at the charity stripe in the period. Texas A&M took an 18-15 lead into the intermission paced by six points apiece by Sydney Bowles and Green.

After a second-quarter opening Vanderbilt bucket, the Aggies went on an 7-0 run, sparked by an old-fashioned 3-point play by Patty, to take a 25-17 lead. The Commodores' Harbison responded with seven points in a span of :56 seconds to cut the gap to one point at the 6:10 mark and Vandy took its first lead of the game when Marnelle Garraud hit a 3-pointer with just under four minutes to play, 29-28. The Commodores eventually inflated the cushion to 36-28 and took a 40-32 advantage into the intermission.

Vanderbilt stretched the margin to 49-36 at the 7:27 mark of the third quarter and with mounting foul trouble, the Maroon & White were unable to gain traction. The Commodores led 72-56 at the final break.

The Aggies cut the lead to eight points on three different occasions in the fourth quarter but were unable to draw any closer down the stretch.

Up Next
Texas A&M continues road action Thursday when the Aggies travel to Gainesville, Florida, for a 5 p.m. contest against the Florida Gators.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach Joni Taylor: "We just didn't defend the way we needed to, and that's what's most disappointing--that's not who we have been. We've got to get that figured out. What we needed to do today was take away threes, not let them get to the free throw line and not let them turn us over. And they did all three of those things.

"They made nine threes. They got to the free throw line. We let one of their players have a career night offensively and we just didn't look excited to play defense and defend like our backs were against the wall, like we've played lately. And so while we are scoring more, we're also giving up more and we've got to get that fixed."

POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES

Texas A&M moves to 6-13 in the 2022-23 regular season, including 1-8 in the SEC.
The Aggies' overall record against the Vanderbilt Commodores moved to 9-6, including 3-4 in Nashville.
Joni Taylor's career record advances to 146-88 all-time and to 6-13 in her first season with the Aggies.

TEAM NOTES

Texas A&M scored a season-high 79 points, topping their previous high of 75 against Georgia in their last time out.
The Aggies had their biggest scoring output for back-to-back games this season with 154.
Texas A&M registered 70-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
The Maroon & White made 51.8% (29-of-56) from the field, marking their first time hitting over 50% in back-to-back games this season.
The Aggies scored 18 points in the first quarter, the most they've scored in the first frame since putting up 19 on Nov. 23, 2022.
Texas A&M utilized a starting lineup of Sydney Bowles, Kay Kay Green, Eriny Kindred, Jada Malone and Aaliyah Patty for the seventh time this season (1-6).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Janiah Barker

Registered nine points, nine rebounds, three blocks, three assists and a steal.
Led the Aggies in rebounds for the fourth time this season.
Recorded multiple blocks for the fourth time this season.
Equaled a career-high with the three blocks.

Aaliyah Patty

Scored a career-high 21 points, marking her first 20-point effort of the season and the third of her career.
Registered her eighth double-digit game of the season and the 47^th of her career.
Led the Aggies in scoring for the fifth time this season.
Hit 9-of-10 from the field for the most efficient shooting performance of her career.
Recorded two blocked shots, her ninth game this season with multiple blocks.
Hit a 3-pointer, marking the 10th game this season she has made one-or-more shots from deep.
Needs just 17 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau for her career.

Kay Kay Green

Put up 17 points, the fourth game in a row and sixth time this season she has scored in double digits.
Averaging 14.3 points over the last four games.
Drained two 3-pointers, the seventh time this season she has sank one-or-more from deep and her second time with multiple treys.
Led the Aggies in assists for the 10^th time this season.

Sydney Bowles

Registered eight points and three rebounds.
Hit 2-of-5 from 3-point range, marking her 11^th game with multiple trifectas and her 15^th game with at least one.

Tineya Hilton

Registered nine points and four assists.
Led the Aggies in assists for the fifth time this season.

Jada Malone

Scored nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 from the 3-point line.

Has hit 6-of-10 (60.0%) from the field in the last two games.

Eriny Kindred

Matched a career-high with two assists.

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