The No. 15 Texas A&M women’s basketball team faced an end to their SEC Tournament stretch as they could not contain the undefeated No. 2 Mississippi State Bulldogs in a 70-55 loss at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Led by SEC Freshman of the Year Chennedy Carter’s 27 points, the No. 5 seed Aggies were, at one point, able to keep up the pace with Mississippi State. Junior forward Anriel Howard finished the game with 17 rebounds, the most for an Aggie all season, despite getting into foul trouble late in the game. Senior center Khaalia Hillsman for double-digit rebounds as well, with six of them earned in the first quarter.
Mississippi State surpassed the Aggies and finished with three Bulldogs scoring in double-figures. The top-seeded Bulldogs went through the four quarters of the game only committing five turnovers, which ties a season-low for a Texas A&M opponent. Conversely, the Aggies tallied 16 turnovers. Mississippi State was able to hold on to their lead with phenomenal performances from Victoria Vivians (22 points), Morgan William (15 points, 5 assists) and Roshunda Johnson (13 points).
The Aggies were able to establish a lead after the end of the first quarter, but could not hold off the Bulldogs who soon built a 36-28 advantage that put Texas A&M down at the half.
Mississippi State set themselves further apart and added to their lead as Texas A&M allowed six 3-pointers through the 2nd half of the game. The Bulldogs went into the 4th quarter with a 54-40 upper hand in which they reached a 19-point lead during that time.
As the team reaches a conclusion to the SEC tournament, they now anticipate and look ahead to the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Selection Show and the result of the 64-team tournament field seeding on Monday, March 12 at 6 p.m. The Aggies are projected by ESPN’s bracketology expert, Charlie Crème, to be a No. 4 seed. The Texas A&M women’s basketball team will return to the court on March 16-19 in the NCAA Tournament.
