Texas A&M women’s basketball dropped its season opener, 62-56, to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in large part due to a complete lack of scoring and shot-making. As the Islanders knocked down open looks early and often, the Aggies’ inability to overcome a 3-of-25 shooting performance from beyond the arc doomed the team.
“We weren’t really good, offensively,” coach Joni Taylor said. “We weren’t really good defensively, either. Knew our defense was behind, and that’s our calling card. I look at the statsheet, and there’s not a quarter where we hold our opponent to single digits. And that’s something we normally pride ourselves in. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
The game opened on a somber note as the Reed Arena crowd participated in a moment of silence to honor the tragic passing of former A&M assistant coach Amir Abdur-Rahim. Abdur-Rahim coached for the Aggies from 2014-2018. His daughter, graduate SMU transfer forward Amirah, made her A&M debut on Monday.
The Islanders came out hot from behind the arc, draining three of their first five attempts to jump out to a 17-11 lead after the first quarter. Senior guard Jaeda Whitner made two of those as A&M-Corpus Christi found space to attack from the corners.
Meanwhile, A&M went cold in the first quarter, shooting 14.3% from the field. The lack of shooting paired with seven turnovers led to an early deficit for the Maroon and White to overcome.
“Offensively, we shot way too many threes,” Taylor said. “Three-for-25 is not who we are. It’s not who we are going to be. It’s not who we have been.”
A&M lost 2023’s second- and third-highest scoring players on the roster this offseason after G Endyia Rogers ran out of eligibility and forward Janiah Barker transferred to UCLA. This exodus of scoring puts even more of the offensive burden on last year’s highest scorer for the Aggies, redshirt senior G Aicha Coulibaly. The two-time All-SEC Second Team member failed to get her offensive game going, finishing with only nine points on 3-of-10 shooting and exited the game with an apparent injury in the final minute.
In the second quarter, the Aggies continued struggling to generate offense, ending the half shooting 7-of-29 from the field and 1-of-14 behind the arc. Although still entering the half down 29-23, A&M found six second quarter points from redshirt junior F Jada Malone. Looking for ancillary scoring outlets to complement Coulibaly, A&M needed the Spring native to use her 6-foot-3 frame to outmuscle the Islanders and find success in the low post.
The Aggies surged ahead early in the second half through efficient team offense, logging five assists. The Maroon and White unlocked the Islander defense with six players chipping in with points in the third period. The Aggies ended the third quarter shooting 7-of-19 from the floor.
Sophomore LSU transfer G Janae Kent scored 10 points, including four in the second half. Kent fought her way to the free throw line three times, knocking in every shot from the charity stripe. Graduate G Sahara Jones also started finding her spots, adding in five third-quarter points to give the Aggies a 45-43 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was all Islanders. A&M Corpus-Christi went on an 8-0 run with 6:37 left on the clock to reestablish a lead at 51-47. The Islanders were hyper-efficient on offense down the stretch, shooting 60% from the field and 50% from three in the final frame. Graduate G/F Paige Allen took over, scoring six of her 14 points in the fourth to end the Aggies’ hopes of a win.
As the Islanders heated up, the Aggies fell apart, shooting 22.2% from the field and 16.7% from three in the fourth. A&M also allowed an easy two points with 42 seconds left out of an out-of-bounds play that effectively salted the game away.
The Aggies will have a chance to bounce back at 11 a.m. Thursday when UTSA comes to town.
“We have an early game Thursday morning,” Taylor said. “UTSA is really, really talented, they’re tough, they’re athletic and they’ve got some really good players. We’re going to have our hands full.”
