If you chose to just box-score watch the Texas A&M women’s basketball game against Ole Miss, it would be hard at first to pick up what went wrong. The Aggies narrowly shot better than the Rebels from the field, shot the same from 3-point range, had less fouls and only three less rebounds.
But two things make the outcome of the game easy to understand: the seven-point second quarter and the 21 turnovers on Thursday, Feb. 17.
Fresh off a 16-point loss at home against the LSU Tigers, the Aggies gave up 74 points in back-to-back games for back-to-back losses.
“The other team was ready to play,” Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said. “We were ready to play, but we didn’t answer the bell.”
A&M, after finding itself on a three-game winning streak, has suffered two-straight losses in similar fashions to its 74-54 loss on Thursday. After the win streak, Blair mentioned his goal to “drive for five” conference wins, and after consecutive conference losses, the team’s chances of securing that fifth win look bleeker.
A&M has three games remaining on its schedule to accomplish Blair’s goal as the postseason begins and the coach’s retirement creeps closer.
The Aggies struggled against Ole Miss’ rotation of short, quick guard play, similar to LSU in the game days before. Three Rebels dropped double-digit points including graduate guard Lashonda Monk, with 19 points, and senior center Shakira Austin, with 12 points. Sophomore forward Madison Scott also had a 13-point, 14-rebound outing at home.
“Give credit to Ole Miss,” Blair said. “They did a good job and played so much harder than us in the first half. Monk and Scott were special.”
On the visitors’ side, while 11 Aggies were able to score at least one point, only one was able to clear the double-digit threshold: graduate guard Kayla Wells.
A&M has a few days to prepare for its next bout, a home match against the Alabama Crimson Tide on Sunday, Feb. 20, at 5 p.m. This will be the last game at Reed Arena before the hardwood gets renamed to “Gary Blair Court.”