No. 7 Texas A&M women’s basketball is no longer the only undefeated team in the SEC.
Pursuing their best start in program history, the Aggies’ 12-game win streak was snapped on Thursday by LSU.
In its 65-61 loss to the Tigers, A&M committed 21 turnovers, the most since its first two games of the season. Senior center Ciera Johnson had a team-high eight, with half coming in the fourth quarter.
“Typical A&M-LSU game,” Blair said. “Possession , possession, possession, but normally both teams are not turning it over 43 times between the both of us.”
A 12-6 scoring run by the Aggies late in the fourth quarter gave them their first lead since the 3:19 mark of the first quarter, with senior point guard Destiny Pitts hitting a shot from behind the arc to put A&M ahead 53-52. However, LSU’s Faustine Aifuwa tacked on a pair of points to tie the game at 54 and send it into overtime.
A&M coach Gary Blair said he felt on top of the world after Pitts made the three-pointer.
“I felt like a million dollars [after the three],” Blair said. “I thought we had the right defense to stop them from the last play, but obviously we didn’t. [Pitts] had a wide open shot from eight feet.”
Despite their late success, the Aggies were unable to continue it into the overtime period, scoring just seven points to LSU’s 11 for their first loss of the season.
Blair said A&M needs to quickly look past the loss and focus on getting better.
“Hey, it’s a loss,” Blair said. “Okay, Chicken Little is not falling out of the sky, if I’m correct we have a six-hour bus ride and I am looking forward to that as much as a root canal [after the loss] … Let’s get back safe, get to the film room and get better as a basketball team.”
The first quarter was close throughout until the Tigers went on a 9-2 scoring run to go into the second quarter with a 17-12 lead.
Leading the way in the first quarter for the Aggies was Jones with six points and one rebound. By the end of the matchup Jones posted 16 points, 10 rebounds and two assists.
The second quarter was where the Aggies let LSU extend its lead to double digits. However, by the end of the first half A&M was able to regain some of its momentum and decreased the Tigers’ lead to eight.
A&M’s offensive struggles could be seen through senior point guard Aaliyah Wilson’s statistics. Wilson, who regularly scored in double digits for the Aggies, matched her season-low of eight points against the Tigers.
The Aggies came out of the halftime break as a new team, quickly minimizing the Tigers’ lead to a mere four points, though they didn’t manage to catch up until the end of the game.
Next up for the maroon and white will be their return to Reed Arena against No. 14 Mississippi State. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 17.
“[Bouncing back against Mississippi State] is everything,” Blair said. “We have home court advantage and we have to do exactly what LSU did to us. It’s the home court advantage, they played well and we have lost four straight times there. LSU has our number and that’s why they call it a rivalry.”