No. 18 Texas A&M women’s basketball bounced back from its first loss of the season with a blowout win on a historic night.
In the 45-point win which brought A&M to a 9-1 record this season, the maroon and white shot 47% from the field and 61% from three-point range. Graduate guard Kayla Wells led all scorers with a season-high 25 points as A&M led the entire game and scored 40 of its points off turnovers.
Coach Gary Blair, who broke former coach Shelby Metcalf’s record for all-time wins in A&M basketball history with his 439th win, said Metcalf still needs to be remembered by people as a legend and that he was a unique person on and off the court. Metcalf held the record of 438 wins for 31 years.
“You need to realize who Shelby Metcalf was,” Blair said. “He was a special guy, and his stories are legendary. I’m proud because it’s here at A&M and I got it done in the first third of my 19th year, and I’m proud of that.”
The country’s most efficient 3-point shooting team got off to a fast start from behind the arc by going 5-for-5 to begin the night. The Aggies claimed a 15-4 lead over the Tigers after just four minutes of play with Wells and junior guard Jordan Nixon setting the tone offensively with two threes each.
Wells said Thursday night’s game was a good opportunity for getting back in a rhythm outside the paint.
“I knew this game was super important for us bouncing back, and I felt really good to shoot around today,” Wells said. “I have been feeling really good in practice and I know that I need to get up a certain amount of shots in order to make an impact with my team, so that’s what I did today.”
At the end of the first quarter, A&M held a 16-point advantage as Wells led all scorers with 10 points. The Aggies also grabbed five first-quarter steals and held Texas Southern to 4-for-18 shooting from the field. Nixon also drew a pair of charges.
The Tigers cut the deficit to 11 through four minutes of the second quarter before Blair subbed in his starters to stunt their momentum. Wells, Nixon and graduate guard Qadashah Hoppie got the lead back to 18 with two minutes left until the half. That trio combined to go 9-for-12 from deep over the first two quarters and were the only Aggies to attempt a three-pointer.
Wells scored seven second-quarter points to remain the game’s leading scorer as A&M’s offense stayed potent to the end of the quarter. Hoppie made two of her threes as time winded down and the Aggies claimed a 49-25 lead going into the half. Texas Southern was shooting 30% from the field compared to A&M’s 53%.
Wells stayed hot to start the second half, making three of A&M’s first four field-goal attempts to bring her total to 24. Wells remained perfect from three-point range as well, going 4-for-4 after her make halfway into the third quarter.
A&M held the Tigers to just seven points in the third quarter while scoring 19 to hold a 69-32 lead. The Aggies continued to be aggressive on defense, as A&M entered the fourth quarter having logged 12 steals from seven different players.
Things remained the same in the fourth quarter, and Hoppie showed off her scoring abilities with an impressive reverse layup to add to A&M’s scoring. Junior guard McKinzie Green made some plays coming off the bench, too, logging five steals to go along with eight points.
Green said the team’s defense was much better than in the last game and that they wanted to make a point on that end against the Tigers.
“I feel like it was an outstanding game for us on the defensive end,” Green said. “We didn’t play our best defensive game against Texas, so we made it a priority to play a lot better defense. We just made it a point to play better game after that game.”
A&M’s scoring stalled for a few minutes toward the end of the quarter before sophomore forward Maliyah Johnson scored four quick points off a pair of free throws and a Hoppie no-look pass that led to a layup.
The clock trickled down as A&M ultimately won by a final of 88-43. A&M now leads the all-time series 10-3 against Texas Southern and hits the road for its next matchup against TCU on Sunday, Dec. 12.
Editor’s Note: Jordan Nixon is an opinion writer for The Battalion.