Courtney Walker poured in a career-high 31 points on 14-of-27 shooting for No. 12 Texas A&M, but it wasn’t enough. The Aggies fell 83-81 to No. 22 Florida Thursday.
Walker — the team’s leading scorer — was on fire early. She scored 10 points in the first quarter and seven more in the second to push the Aggies out to a 36-31 halftime lead.
A&M widened its lead to as many as eight in the third, but after a TV timeout with 4:53 left in the third, it was a different story. The Gators (19-4, 7-3) flipped a switch and outscored the Aggies 24-11 to finish the quarter. When it finally ended, Florida had exploded for a whopping 34 in the period.
The Aggies (15-7, 5-4) clawed their way back into the game in the fourth and took a 79-77 lead when Taylor Cooper converted a three-point play the old fashioned way. However, the Gators reclaimed the lead less than a minute later and A&M couldn’t recover.
Courtney Williams got a steal with 7 seconds left in the game. But Jordan Jones’ game-tying attempt at the buzzer was contested, and she couldn’t get it to fall.
Chelsea Jennings and Khaalia Hillsman also scored in double-figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively, while Taylor Cooper came off the bench and scored 7 points in 7 minutes of action.
The Aggies were once again hurt by turnovers, as they recorded 20 of them against the Gators.
Walker’s monster performance marked the 30th time in her career that she has scored at least 20 points in a game, tying former student Danielle Adams for the most in school history. It was the 14th game in a row that Walker has scored in double digits.
The result marks the first time all season A&M has fallen short in consecutive outings. The Aggies now fall into a tie with No. 23 Tennessee for fourth place in the SEC. That tie will be broken on Sunday, though, when the Volunteers come to Reed Arena. The game is slated to be at 3 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.
