As students entered town for the start of the spring semester, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team showed they were in mid-season form. The Aggies eased to a 78-56 victory over the Auburn Tigers Sunday afternoon at Reed Arena.
The Aggies started the game on a 16-4 run with senior guard Adrienne Pratcher and junior center Kelsey Bone leading the way with eight and six points respectively.
Bone led all scorers in the game with 19 points, while the Aggies led a balanced attack with four players with double-digit scoring performances.
Bone shared the secret to her success.
“I’ve just relaxed,” Bone said. “I’ve always felt like I’ve had to prove a point. I just decided to let the game come to me, now the point has been proven so to speak.”
The A&M defense kept a secure lead for the Aggies throughout the game as they forced 15 turnovers, had four blocked shots and recorded seven steals.
The Aggies went into the locker room at halftime with a 43-23 lead, 22 of those points coming in the paint and 15 through fast breaks compared to Auburn’s 14 and two, respectively.
Auburn shot no free throws through the first half and only received four points from their bench.
The second half started off completely opposite of the first half as Auburn went on an 8-2 run before the Aggies got settled in.
Head coach Gary Blair said his team has to play better in the second half.
“We played a perfect first half,” Blair said. “The trouble is the second half. It’s the turnovers.”
After only eight turnovers in the first half, the Aggies gave the ball away 14 times in the second half.
Texas A&M worked past the turnovers as senior forward Kristi Bellock along with Bone both attained double-doubles, grabbing 10 rebounds each. Bellock had 13 points on the night.
Freshman guard Courtney Walker was the second leading scorer for the Aggies, but struggled in the first half with only six points. Walker said the key was focusing on defense.
“[Coach Blair] told me to work on defense,” Walker said. “Guarding their best player and playing hard. The offense eventually came.”
The Aggies have a week off before they travel to Georgia to take on the Bulldogs next Sunday.