Texas A&M women’s basketball played its second game of the season against the UTSA Roadrunners on Elementary School Day at Reed Arena with nearly 5,000 Brazos Valley students in attendance.
The game was full of excitement, with each student screaming at the top of their lungs throughout the game as the Aggies pulled out a 55-51 victory.
Entering the morning, A&M was 11-4 all-time against UTSA, having won the past five meetings dating back to 1999. That streak continued as graduate guard Sahara Jones led the team with 16 points in a big third quarter that played a pivotal role in her success.
“We love when the kids come,” Jones said. “They bring so much energy. They don’t know that we appreciate them like we do, and anytime that they come out, it’s a great game and they bring the energy.”
Within the game’s first five minutes, A&M only took one shot from three-point land. After Monday’s home opener where A&M was 3-for-25 from beyond the arc and shot 27.3% from the field, the offense found rhythm and cleaned up the mistakes. Sophomore LSU transfer G Janae Kent put A&M ahead with the first bucket of the game and soon enough, senior G Kyndall Hunter hoisted up A&M’s first attempt from three and connected.
https://twitter.com/AggieWBB/status/1854573313672065530
In the first quarter, the Aggies made it to the free throw line eight times and were 6-for-8. Senior G Aicha Coulibaly was the Aggies’ leading scorer with five points and was 2-for-3 on field goals. The offense tallied 15 points with four assists, shooting 44.4%, while the defense secured eight rebounds.
Coach Joni Taylor mentioned the defense postgame and emphasized that she wanted to see “a little bit more” on that side of the ball.
“It’s hard to complain about 51 points, but we are still making some mistakes,” Taylor said. “We just had more intensity today. We were more locked in. Tuesday was a really hard day for us, but I thought they responded very well.”
After Texas A&M-Corpus Christi spoiled the home opener in dealing A&M a 62-56 loss, the team pulled it together and fought down the line in an intense and aggressive game.
With a three-point lead heading into the second quarter, the Roadrunners and Aggies exchanged three-pointers, one of which was made by Hunter before UTSA freshman G Damara Allen made one of her own. The Aggies’ offense got off to a slow start, making only one 3-pointer and making it to the free-throw line four times.
The UTSA offense did not find its groove either, posting only 10 points the whole quarter and going 4-for-11 in field goals made along with 1-for-4 behind the arc. Redshirt senior forward Jordyn Jenkins tested the A&M defense after being the leading scorer at halftime with 12 points, but was held to six points the rest of the way.
“She had a double-double at halftime,” Taylor said. “She’s really good. She’s super talented. We just tried to not let her touch it. I thought we let her get some easy touches and when she catches it in her sweet spot around the basket in that 15-to-17-foot area, she becomes really hard to guard, and so I thought we had better awareness of not letting her catch it where she wanted to.”
It was a slow third quarter for the Maroon and White, as they were outscored 16-14 and gave up their first lead. The Roadrunners went on a 7-0 run before Jones powered the offense back into the game after falling behind, 33-26.
https://twitter.com/AggieWBB/status/1854591974860259563
“Sahara is so hard to guard because she was a three-level scorer,” Taylor said. “She can shoot it, she has a mid-range game, you can post her up, she can get to the rim. Sahara is someone who has been in our program for three years, started for three years, has more minutes than anyone else on our roster, she’s played the most games and with that comes an expectation, responsibility and accountability.”
The fourth quarter was back-and-forth, with each team witnessing ups and downs. Freshman G Taliyah Parker drained an open three with 5:17 to go to bring momentum to the offense.
“That’s something that I work on during practice, so I was very confident and trusted in what I put in, so I just shot it with no hesitation,” Parker said.
— Texas A&M Women's Basketball (@AggieWBB) November 7, 2024
A&M extended the lead when Jones got to the basket for a layup and Parker knocked down two clutch free throws with two minutes left. Senior F Lauren Ware contributed down the line, making her way to the free throw line at the end of the game and making one of two shots to close out the scoring after UTSA had a turnover on an inbound pass.
“We still have quite a bit of work to do,” Taylor said.
A&M’s next game is at home against Western Michigan on Sunday at 2 p.m. and will be streamed on SEC Network +.
