Kelsey Bone led the No. 16 Texas A&M womens basketball team to another SEC win Sunday as they took down the No.15 South Carolina Gamecocks, 50-48. Bone returned to her former school with a bang as she accumulated 13 points and 15 rebounds to gain her 11th double-double of the season.
Bone played for South Carolina her freshman year and Sunday marked her first time playing against the Gamecocks since her transfer to A&M.
Gamecock senior guard Ieasia Walker, former teammate and roommate of Bone, said it was good to play against her.
She played a great game, she looks real good, Walker said. It was nice to play against her again from playing with her in practice a few years ago.
The Aggies and the Gamecocks each rode six game win streaks into Sunday. The game began with Bone hitting a jumper to put the Aggies ahead by two but the Aggies failed to establish a clear lead early in the game. The Gamecocks challenged A&M and left the Aggies trailing by seven points with more than six minutes left in the first half. But the Aggies answered back. With less than five minutes left in the first half, A&M went on a 10-0 run to lead 21-18 and went into halftime with a 27-21 lead.
At the beginning of the second half, the Gamecocks began to come back and eventually tied the game at 33 with more than 12 minutes left to play. A&M guards Adrienne Pratcher and Courtney Walker kept their team in reach, putting up 10 points each to help the Aggies.
Bone then took charge by putting up four rebounds and two assists in the last five minutes to tie the game 48-48.
The score remained tied for the last two minutes of the game before Bone hit the game-winning shot with seconds left to put A&M ahead 50-48.
A&M head coach Gary Blair said it wasnt an easy win.
“What a ball game,” Blair said. Nothing came easy for us in any of our sets. We had to work and earn everything we got. Their ball pressure was tremendous. It was a great atmosphere tonight because of the great crowd.”
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said A&M is one of the best teams in the country.
Texas A&M is not only one of the best teams in our conference, but in the country, and we went to the wire with them, Staley said.
The Aggies are now on a seven game win streak as they improve to a 19-5 overall record and a 9-1 record in the SEC.