The No. 18 Texas A&M women’s basketball team faced a devastating loss in their first true away game of the season against an unranked opponent.
In the 12-point loss to TCU on Sunday, Dec. 12, A&M roughly shot 23% behind the 3-point line, struggled to grab rebounds as the team was outrebounded by 19 and gave up 16 second chance points off the 18 total offensive rebounds for the Horned Frogs.
5th-year guard Kayla Wells scored 20 points in the matchup, half of which from the charity stripe. This marked her 11th straight game with double-digit points this season and the 76th overall in her career.
A&M struggled to get anything going in the first half as they went 0-6 behind the 3-point line and put up only 10 points in the second quarter. Coach Gary Blair said there is no excuse for the team’s poor performance.
“We got beat by a team that played better,” Blair said. “We became a one-pass team in the first half. We would pass it, shoot it, miss it and get outrebounded. That isn’t running an offense. That is just playing rec ball.”
The maroon and white offense tried to turn the game around in the second half, outscoring TCU 53 to 45; however, it wasn’t enough to secure their first road game win. Junior guard Jordan Nixon knocked down the first three of the game for the Aggies late in the third quarter off an assist from junior guard McKinzie Green after facing their largest deficit of the game at 60-31.
A&M forced a season-high 27 turnovers, 16 of which came from the second half. The Aggie bench scored 35 points compared to TCU’s 34 points, marking the seventh time this season A&M’s bench outscored its opponents.
5th-year guard Qadashah Hoppie had a season-high 17 points in the matchup, Nixon finished with 13 points and junior center Sydnee Roby followed behind with 10 points and three offensive rebounds.
Blair said he is proud of the team’s grit and willingness to persevere, despite being down 20 at halftime.
“I am glad our kids didn’t quit,” Blair said. “We are going to work on our mistakes. We know what our mistakes are, who we are and what we can become. We aren’t close to where we want to be, and that all starts with the head coach first.”
The Aggies will return home for their next matchup against Rice on Sunday, Dec. 19 at 2 p.m. in Reed Arena.
Editor’s Note: Jordan Nixon is an opinion writer for The Battalion.