Redshirt junior forward Lauren Ware entered the Texas A&M women’s basketball game against Missouri on Thursday, Jan. 25, blazing after back-to-back low-scoring games.
Ware led the Aggies to a 69-67 victory in Columbia, Missouri with a career-high 22 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Tineya Hylton also made her presence known with her first start of the season and sprinkled momentum throughout the game for the Aggies from start to finish, recording 10 points, three rebounds and two steals.
Hylton opened up scoring for A&M at the 9:25 mark with a 3 pointer, her second of the season after taking a pass from senior guard Aicha Coulibaly.
A&M’s defense showed up big in the first quarter, holding the Tigers to just 6 points, while the Aggies led with 15 points.
“Getting out to a really good start is something we had been focusing on and talking about,” coach Joni Taylor said. “Our pace and defense set the tone.”
The Aggies led for most of the game but an aggressive Missouri began to crawl back, resulting in a thrilling third and fourth quarter.
Sparking momentum for the Tigers early in the third quarter was graduate forward Hayley Frank with a 3-pointer followed by an offensive foul from an aggressive Coulibaly on the other end.
Graduate guard Endyia Rogers picked up her fourth foul on the next play, sending senior guard Mama Dembele to the free throw line to bring the Tigers within four points.
“That is the tightest game we’ve been in with a young team,” Taylor said. “We knew Missouri was going to make a run and they did to make it a really close game.”
Despite the Tigers’ efforts, the fourth quarter was owned by Hylton and Ware, who took turns scoring the last 15 points of the game for the Aggies. The spark resulted from back-to-back layups from Ware followed by a 3-pointer from Hylton.
The road victory was sealed after Hylton made two trips to the free throw line, nailing all four shots.
“I thought we had a good pace,” Taylor said. “We were really locked in defensively and forced Missouri into taking some tough shots and we were able to find some shots out of their zone and execute.”
A&M sits at 3-3 in SEC play and will take on the Florida Gators in Gainesville, Florida on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 12 p.m.
