No. 17 Texas A&M has leaned on its fabulous freshman point guard Chennedy Carter throughout the season, but it was Georgia’s freshman point guard Gabby Connally who stole show in the Bulldogs’ 92-84 overtime win Sunday afternoon at Reed Arena.
Coming off of the bench, Connally scored a career-high 37 points, and the San Antonio native took complete command of the contest in overtime, accounting for 15 of Georgia’s 19 points in the extra period.
“When I come in off the bench, I hope to be a spark, make sure there’s no drop off and keep the energy up” Connally said. “Today I had a few open looks and I decided to take them and I was hot so I kept shooting and my teammates were telling me to let it fly.”
Carter had another giant game, scoring 31 points, but could not hit the big shots in overtime though, making just 1-of-9 attempts in overtime. Carter said the wear and tear was what slowed down her sharp shooting.
“I don’t think their defense gave me any problems,” Carter said. “I just feel like throughout the game I just got a little fatigued. My legs got heavy and I was shooting it a little bit short.”
While the Aggies out-rebounded the Bulldogs 52-48, Georgia found a way to get grips on A&M’s glass domination in the fourth quarter. The Aggies scored 25 second chance points on 28 offensive rebounds, but had only five put-back points on six O boards in the final 15 minutes of the game.
The bigger problem for the Aggies was that they could not finish possessions at an effective rate, shooting just 32 percent from the field. Blair credited Georgia forward Caliya Robinson’s defense for forcing A&M to take altered shots.
“The difference was Robinson,” Blair said. “We had 20 more shots, out-rebounded the team, free throws were even, plus-six on turnovers, but when you shoot 32 percent because she’s changing shots, I think that had a lot to do with it. We had some very good shots and then we had some poor shots that we were trying to do individually instead of collectively.”
Free throws were pivotal for Georgia, as the Bulldogs were 17-of-20 from the line in the fourth quarter and overtime. For the game, Georgia was 22-of-28.
Carter must have forgotten the bank is closed on Sunday, as she knocked in a contested three off the glass with 12.8 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 73.
“Any shot I shoot I think is going to go in, I’m a confident player,” Carter said.
Georgia had a pair of open shots to win the game, but could not hit either one as the game went to overtime.
After trailing by as 10, A&M closed the third quarter on an electric 8-0 run to carry much needed momentum into the final period.
The Aggies and Bulldogs traded hot streaks in the first half, with Georgia gaining a 38-31 halftime lead.
A&M used a 10-0 run to pull within 22-19 midway through the second quarter, but the Bulldogs sank six-straight shots to go back up by 10 points at the 2:05 mark.
The loss dropped the Aggies into a three-way tie for fifth place in the SEC. A&M returns to the court on Thursday as the Aggies travel to face Alabama, and Blair said another challenge awaits in what is a dogfight league each night.
“Every game we have in conference is going to be very similar to this,” Blair said. “We’re going to have to fight through it, we’re going to have to have some young players mature on the seam and we’re going to have to have some older players step up and be the All-Conference performers they are.”