Texas A&M women’s basketball has struggled through its demanding Southeastern Conference schedule, in which they have lost their last 10 games including Sunday afternoon’s matchup against Arkansas where it fell 80-71.
The Aggies honored their six seniors: graduate guard Aicha Coulibaly, redshirt senior forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim, graduate G Sahara Jones, redshirt senior F Lauren Ware, redshirt junior G Kyndall Hunter and redshirt junior F Jada Malone. All six have been incredible for the Aggies during their time in Aggieland, making up 69% of all field goals this season.
It was all Aggies in the first quarter as they outscored the Razorbacks 20-7, led by Jones, who had eight of the Aggies’ 20. Jones, the San Antonio native, has been the backbone of this A&M team after losing Coulibaly to a season-ending knee injury in late January. She currently leads the Maroon and White with 9.5 points and seven rebounds per game. Jones had a career-high 21 points and her second double-double of the season with 11 rebounds.
“It’s just really special when you have someone in Sahara who has been at one place for five years,” coach Joni Taylor said. “ … I still think her best basketball is ahead of her.”
The Razorbacks’ offense began to click as they went on a 6-0 run early in the second to cut the lead back to single digits. A three-point play from senior G Izzy Higginbottom and a jumper from behind the arc from freshman G Phoenix Stotijn got the Razorbacks back in the game.
Arkansas continued to chip away due to an outstanding performance from Stotijn, who put up 11 points late in the second. The Aggie defense held Higginbottom to just nine first-half points. The last time these teams met, she dropped 33 points, her fourth-highest scoring-outing of the season.
At halftime, the game was all tied up, 31 a piece, giving both teams 20 additional minutes to claim victory. The second half started rough for A&M, as redshirt freshman G Erica Moon got called for back-to-back fouls, sending Higginbottom to the line, making three of four free throws.
A couple of foul calls on A&M’s Jones gave the visitors some much-needed momentum. Arkansas continued to separate after a couple of back-to-back three-pointers from sophomore F Cristina Sánchez Cerqueira and freshman C Danika Galea, giving them a 10-point lead late in the third. The three-point shooting was the difference in the third quarter as Arkansas outshot A&M four-to-one from behind the arc.
“Credit to their two players, they started knocking down shots while we made some mistakes on defense,” Malone said. “That happens in games. But I think we did a good job trying to come back and limit their points in the next two quarters.”
The Aggies entered the fourth quarter down 55-40 with a lot of work to do. The biggest struggle for the Aggies was defending Arkansas’s three-point shooting, of which they shot 48.1% compared to A&M’s 33.3%. Another issue was the number of fouls Higginbottom drew, sending her to the line ten times and scoring 19 points, breaking the single-season record for free throws for Arkansas with 231 on the year.
Freshman Stotijn played phenomenally on offense for the Razorbacks, recording a season-high 23 points, 15 of them being from behind the arc. Heading into today, she averaged only 6.3 points per game.
The Aggies seemed to score most of their points under the basket from Malone, who had 18 points and 11 boards. The Aggies gained momentum midway through the fourth with a three-pointer from Moon, followed by another from Jones.
A&M struggled offensively in the third quarter, only putting up nine points compared to Arkansas’ 24. Higginbottom was quiet in the first half, only scoring nine, before she put an exclamation point on her performance, scoring 18 in the second half.
It was grind time for the Aggies as they were down 72-59 with three minutes remaining. Redshirt junior G Kyndall Hunter put the Aggies within 10 after nailing her fourth 3-pointer of the game. Despite the late effort from the Aggies, there wasn’t enough time to complete the comeback.
The Aggies end the regular season on a ten-game losing streak, hoping to bounce back in the SEC tournament, where they take on the Tennessee Volunteers in the first round on Wednesday, March 5.
