With only seven players available, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team managed to hold off the SMU Mustangs and won 57-49 on Sunday, Dec. 18 inside Reed Arena.
The Aggies and Mustangs were evenly matched by the end of the first quarter as A&M held a slim 10-9 lead, but by halftime, the maroon and white held a more comfortable 32-24 advantage. After the break, the game became dicey between the two teams as SMU scored the first eight points to tie the score. A&M responded by going on a 10-2 run to widen the lead to 42-31 with three minutes left in the third period. The Mustangs finished off the third quarter with the last four points to go into the final period with a 42-38 score.
During the first five minutes both teams traded blows, but a 3-pointer from graduate forward Aaliyah Patty helped the Aggies hold a 51-47 advantage. The Aggies’ defensive efforts held the Mustangs to just 1-of-8 from the field and forced four turnovers to finish out the game.
A&M’s only two available bench players, sophomore forward Jada Malone and freshman guard Mya Petticord, finished off the night with career highs in points as five other Aggies recorded double digits. Malone led the squad with 12 points, two rebounds, two steals and a block. Junior guard Kay Kay Green, freshman guard Sydney Bowles and Patty all contributed ten points as well. Petticord’s ten points were all scored during the first half as she also recorded career bests in rebounds (5), assists (3), steals (1) and minutes (32).
Despite only having seven total players available during the matchup, lots of practice hours helped less experienced players come prepared, A&M coach Joni Taylor said.
“The good thing is that everyone got a ton of reps in practice and was more efficient on what it is we’re doing,” Taylor said. “I thought it was really good for Maya Petticord. She has been out; she’s been hurt, and she was behind and so she was one of the healthy ones this week and for her to take every rep multiple times showed up today for her. The adjustment is we’re not running the way we would like to run, playing a lot of zone and so you just try to figure out how to save and protect them on both ends of the floor. Get them in, get them out. And to help mentally: feed them with confidence through film and preparation.”
Following the third quarter where the Mustangs outscored A&M, 14-10, the team had to continue to fight, Malone said.
“We had to suck it up,” Malone said. “We knew it was going to be hard going in, but we communicated and played hard to push through that wall. I think we all hit a wall in the third quarter, but it’s a wall that you have to push through because there is nobody else to come get you. Pushing through it is going to be hard, but Coach Taylor always reminds us that we can do hard things. Today we showed that we are better together.”
A&M will continue its campaign against Purdue on Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 1 p.m. at Reed Arena.