Despite a very strong first half, the No. 18 Aggies women’s basketball team was defeated by No. 11 West Virginia tonight at Reed Arena.
The Aggies came out of the gates ready to play, making 8 out of their 17 shots from the field. However, A&M struggled to find their rhythm from behind the arc, making just one of their six attempts in the first quarter. Senior center Khaalia Hillsman made up for the subpar three point shooting, and established her authority in the paint in the quarter, scoring six points. The Aggies trailed 17-16 at the end of the first quarter.
West Virginia got off to a hot start in the second quarter, going on an 8-2 run. Forward Teana Muldrow scored all eight of the points in the run and finished the night with a game-high 24 points.
“She [Muldrow] was as good as advertised, she did a great job,” head coach Gary Blair said.
After finding themselves trailing 25-18, the Aggies roared back with a 10-5 run and trailed 30-28 at the half.
The Aggies really struggled to get any sort of rhythm in the third quarter due to poor shooting, especially from junior guard Danni Williams who finished the game with just two points, making 0 out of her 8 shots from the field.
“I think she is a great player that can shoot the three and take you off the rim. I thought we did a good job against her,” said West Virginia head coach Mike Carey.
Turnovers also plagued the Aggies in the third quarter as they had six, leading to seven fastbreak points for the Mountaineers.
“They run a fast-paced offense and they ran the floor, we got a little bit fatigued [in the third quarter] and we saw what happened,” freshman guard Chennedy Carter said.
The Aggies were outscored 18-10 in the third quarter, and trailed 48-38 through three quarters.
The Aggies found more success shooting the ball in the fourth quarter, making 50% of their shots. Carter found her stroke from behind the arc, netting three three-pointers in the quarter.
However, the Aggies continued to struggle to stop West Virginia on the fastbreak, and the Mountaineers finished the game with 20 points off of fast breaks. The Aggies were outscored 22-18 in the fourth quarter and fell to West Virginia 70-56.
“We hustled and hustled and got back in the game and I thought it was ours for the taking,” Blair said. “We kept fighting from behind, but we just couldn’t do it [win] tonight.”
A&M football head coach Jimbo Fisher, who arrived in College Station today, was in attendance at the game which created a buzz in the arena as fans lined up to take pictures with him.
“I don’t get very many football coaches that come to my games, so that was very good to see him at the game. I wish we could have got the place rocking, but we didn’t execute tonight,” Blair said.
The Aggies will return to action on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Reed Arena against TCU. The game will be televised on SEC Network.
“TCU is (7-1), and have played us well for three straight years but, we’ll be ready,” Blair said.