Winless in 14 attempts, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team looks to win its first game against the No. 1 team in the AP poll in program history as the No. 10 Aggies take on the South Carolina Gamecocks 6 p.m. Monday.
Gary Blair has his A&M squad amid a five-game stretch, featuring four-road contests sandwiched around a Feb. 1 matchup against Auburn at Reed Arena.
“This is the way it’s going to be all year long,” Blair said after a 54-51 loss Thursday to the No. 22 Georgia Bulldogs to kick off the road-game heavy slate of the schedule. “It’s nearly going to be the first team that hits 50 is probably going to win.”
Three Aggies scored in double figures in the defeat, led by Courtney Walker with 12.
A&M has never beaten a team ranked higher than No. 6 in the AP poll while on the road. However not all streaks work against the Aggies favor. They are 3-0 against South Carolina since the 2012-2013 season. When the teams tip off at Colonial Life Arena, they will have the chance to write history rather than follow it.
The Aggies will look toward the SEC leader in assists, Jordan Jones, to light a fire under the A&M offense on Monday night. The Aggies also have the league’s second-leading scorer in junior Courtney Williams as well as the second-leading rebounder Achiri Ade to counter the No. 1 Gamecocks.
South Carolina enters the game averaging just less than 80 points a game, boasting an 18-0 overall record including 6-0 in SEC play. Led by Tiffany Mitchell with 15.2 points per contest, the Gamecocks are scoring roughly 30 more points per game than their opponents.
The Gamecocks are searching for their 27th straight win at home, good for a tie with UConn for the longest active streak in the nation. Their 18-0 record is also a school-record for consecutive victories. Head coach Dawn Staley has led the team to a 75-25 record at home during her tenure.
“We just take it one game at a time,” said Staley. “Obviously it’s a big game, it’s Texas A&M. They are coming to our place. Our main focus is to try and take care of home and get another win in the SEC.”
Unable to play until next fall but a new addition to the Texas A&M roster worth mentioning is 6-0 guard/forward Jasmine Lumpkin. Lumpkin started in 14 of the 15 games she played at Michigan State before transferring to A&M due to a medical situation. After scoring a career-high 16 against No. 9 Baylor on Dec. 20, Lumpkin will have the luxury of learning under Blair before unleashing her skills against top-10 talent such as South Carolina next year.
After the Gamecocks, the Aggies head back to Reed Arena with a home matchup against Auburn before back-to-back road games against Missouri and Mississippi State.