Texas A&M women’s basketball fell to Ball State, 75-62, on Sunday in the second game of the Aggies’ trip to Paradise Island, Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The Aggies and Cardinals have faced off once before. The 1989 matchup saw the Maroon and White take the contest, 81-74. The 2024 meeting saw A&M face Ball State graduate forward Maliyah “MJ” Johnson, who transferred to Ball State after graduating from A&M. In her time with the Aggies, Johnson averaged 2.5 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.1 minutes per game. In Sunday’s bout, Johnson recorded seven points in 17 minutes for the Cardinals.
Redshirt senior guard Aicha Coulibaly set her season-high in points and matched her season-high in rebounds, recording 24 and eight, respectively, in a season-high 36 minutes. The Mali native recorded her 1,500th career point within the game’s first minute on back-to-back layups.
Her quick start propelled the Aggies to an early 9-5 lead before the Cardinals went on a 13-0 run over four minutes. At the end of the first quarter, it was the Cardinals in front, 20-12.
The second quarter saw another run from Ball State, this one at 10-0. Redshirt junior guard Kyndall Hunter killed it with a jumper and two three-pointers to cut into the deficit after previously exiting the game with an injury. Heading into the half, A&M found itself down, 41-31.
Coulibaly took over in the third quarter. The IMG Academy graduate recorded 15 of her 27 points in the third quarter while going 5-of-5 from the field. The Cardinals’ senior G Madelyn Bischoff knocked down three shots from beyond the arc to negate Coulibaly’s efforts and increase the Cardinals’ lead to 11. Bischoff would finish the night with 17 points, three rebounds and an assist.
The Aggies went on the offensive and put together a run to cut the Cardinals’ lead to eight, but Ball State responded with an 8-0 run of its own to close out the game.
A&M struggled from three-point range in the loss, shooting 14% in contrast to Ball State’s 40%. The Aggies had shot over 45% from the field in three straight games heading into Atlantis but failed to reach that mark against the Cardinals with their 38% effort. The Aggies also matched their season high with 17 made free throws, going 17-of-20 from the charity stripe.
Redshirt senior F Lauren Ware finished her night with a season-high-tying four blocks and double-digit rebounds for the second time this season. The Aggies significantly outrebounded the Cardinals, recording 40 to their 27.
Coach Joni Taylor fell to 171-112 all-time and 31-37 in her time with A&M.
Ball State will advance to play the Columbia Lions at 4 p.m. Monday. Following the loss, the Aggies will suit up against the Southern Mississippi Lady Eagles in a battle for seventh place at 6:30 p.m. Monday. The game will be streamed on FloHoops.
