In its first game without senior guard Aicha Coulibaly, Texas A&M women’s basketball suffered a 72-51 loss against Arkansas.
Coulibaly, the Aggies’ leading scorer at 12.8 points per game, suffered a season-ending knee injury last Sunday in the 64-51 loss against LSU.
“We’ve been saying all week there’s not one person who can replace what she does,” coach Joni Taylor said. “I think that we’ve got to rebound by committee, we’ve got to score by committee, we’ve all got to be committed to being tough. Normally I would consider us to be a tough team. We didn’t make shots and we let not making shots affect how we showed up in terms of our toughness, especially on the defensive end of the floor.”
Sophomore G Solé Williams ran with the increased responsibility, going 3-of-5 from downtown in the first half while beating the buzzer in both the first and second quarters. A&M will likely need her to continue her form as it looks for a source of consistent offense.
The usually stalwart Aggie defense was unable to keep up with the Razorback offense and star senior G Izzy Higginbottom. The Southeastern Conference leader with 23.2 points per game, Higginbottom stuffed the stat sheet with a near triple-double: 33 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists.
She showcased her ability to run the fast break, constantly driving to the basket to draw fouls or find her teammates for easy looks. With shades of Magic Johnson and the Showtime Lakers, she dished a behind-the-head assist to a cutting freshman G Phoenix Stotijn for a spectacular pass and easy finish.
“She’s someone who is deadly with the ball in her hands,” Taylor said. “She can score at all three levels. She’s tough, she gets to the rim, she can go right, she can go left, she has a midrange game, she’s heady and she makes the right play with the basketball. She’s just one of those scorers where, when she gets going, she can make it really hard for you to defend her.”
Playing with only eight players, the Maroon and White weren’t able to play their usual fast-paced style of basketball, as Williams had to miss most of the third quarter with foul trouble.
“We tried to slow the game down in the second half just because of our numbers,” Taylor said. “We’re a team that likes to run. We’re just not in a position right now to do that based on our roster and the foul trouble we were in. We were trying to slow it down as much as they were.”
Senior forward Lauren Ware had a solid defensive game, securing two blocks while deterring multiple Razorbacks’ shots in the paint. However, she, along with the rest of the Aggies, were unable to get it going offensively, as the team shot only 27.7% from the field.
The Aggies head home next to face heated rival No. 5 Texas in the Lone Star Showdown on Sunday, Feb. 2.
