Aggies Late Rally Comes up Short Against No.3 South Carolina

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – The Texas A&M women's basketball team gave No. 3 South Carolina all it could handle in Monday's 71-56 loss to the Gamecocks inside Reed Arena.
 
The Aggies played a hounding defense holding South Carolina 17.7 points below its season average. In the second half, the Maroon & White held the Gamecocks to 9-of-27 (33.3%) shooting from the field, including 0-of-8 from 3-point range. South Carolina missed 11 consecutive field goals during a six-minute span midway through the second half.
 
Texas A&M (8-10, 1-8 SEC) trailed by just four points with 7:53 remaining in the contest, but played short-handed down the stretch with leading scorers Ny'Ceara Pryor and Fatmata Janneh fouling out. Janneh missed the last 12:33 of the contest while Pryor was sent off with 3:15 remaining.
 
Pryor logged 14 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals. Janneh registered 12 points and five rebounds in just 11 minutes on the court. Anita Franchini registered her best performance as an Aggie, posting season highs across the board with seven points, nine rebounds and six steals.
 
The Aggies charged out of the gate with a 7-5 lead in the first 3:30 paced by Janneh's five points. The Gamecocks responded with a 15-4 run over a 5:48 period to gain an 18-9 advantage. The Aggie offense found its rhythm to close the quarter, trailing South Carolina 25-18 at the first break.
 
The second quarter saw the Maroon & White claw within five points after a Janae Kent 3-pointer made it a 30-25 game. Janneh scored 10 points and Pryor added eight in the opening quarters, keeping the Aggies within 10 at 41-31 entering halftime.
 
Texas A&M outscored South Carolina 16-14 in the third quarter. After the Gamecocks staked claim to their largest lead of the game, 53-37, the Aggies went on a 10-2 rally in the final 2:10. During the run, Pryor knocked down two from triple town, including one at the buzzer to shave the deficit to 55-47.
 
The fourth quarter started with Salese Blow making 4-of-4 from the charity stripe to pull with four at the 7:53 mark. South Carolina slowly drifted away with Joyce Edwards scoring 12 of her game 28 points in the final 5:24 during a 13-3 surge to the finish line.
 
The Aggies return to Reed Arena Sunday when they host the No. 21 Alabama Crimson Tide in a 5 p.m. contest.
 
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES

• The Aggies are now 4-14 all-time versus the Gamecocks.
• Joni Taylor's career record moves to 186-137 all-time and to 46-62 in her four seasons with the Aggies.

TEAM NOTES

• Texas A&M began with a starting lineup of Ny'Ceara Pryor, Janae Kent, Lemyah Hylton, Fatmata Janneh and Lauren Ware (3-4).
• The Aggies recorded their best free-throw shooting game of the season converting on 11-of-12 (91.7%).

 
Individual Notes
Ny'Ceara Pryor

• Registered double digits for the 17th time this season with a team-high 14 points.

Emerald Parker

• Matched a career-high with her first two-assist effort of the season.

Salese Blow

• Recorded her best game of the season at the free-throw line, going 6-of-6. She tallied games of 9-of-9 (2/28/24) and 10-of-10 (1/4/25) during her time at Wichita State.

Anita Franchini

• Recorded career highs with seven points, nine rebounds, six steals and 29 minutes.

Fatmata Janneh

•  Tallied her 11^th double-digit performance of the season with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range.

Postgame Quotes
 
Head Coach Joni Taylor

On the improvement of the team…
"I think everyone was starting to make multiple efforts on both sides of the basketball, cutting offensively, going to offensive rebound if that's your assignment for the game. Defensively not standing around, not leaving your teammates on the island and I think we're just getting a better concept of that."
 
Ny'Ceara pryor
 
On the Aggies effort tonight…
"I think we came out with more heart tonight, we stayed in it and stuck with our gameplan. We all knew South Carolina was going to come out and give us their best fight, but this was a game we played 40 hard minutes."
 
Anita Franchini
 
On her current success…
"Continuing to do my work each day off the court each day and be confident in myself to make plays to pad my stats"
 
 
 
Follow the Aggies
Visit for more information on Texas A&M women's basketball. Fans can keep up to date with the A&M women's basketball team on Facebook, Instagram/Threads and X by following @AggieWBB.