It was a forgetful day in Baton Rouge for the Texas A&M women's basketball team. Behind 28 points from Dashawn Harden and 20 more from Danielle Ballard, LSU knocked off the Aggies 80-63 and dashed the A&M's hopes of a double-bye in next week's SEC Tournament. With the loss, the Aggies end the regular season with a mark of 22-8 overall and 10-6 in conference play and finish in a tie for fourth place with the Tigers (LSU holds the tiebreak between the two schools).
LSU grabbed the lead from the opening tip (literally as Harden grabbed A&M freshman Khaalia Hillsman's tip to start the game and finished with a layup just five seconds into the contest) and never looked back, using a 21-3 run midway through the first half to open up a 20-point lead with 6:54 remaining in the period.
The Aggies whittled the lead back down to 12 before the break and opened the second half with a bucket to drop it to 10, but that's as close as it would get the rest of the day as the Tigers seemingly had an answer every time A&M would begin to make a push.
Surprisingly, the Aggies had a solid day shooting the ball, hitting on a 57% clip, but were hampered by rampant turnovers that allowed LSU to grow their lead in the first half. In total, A&M gave the ball up 24 times which the Tigers used to score 27 points off turnovers.
Four of those giveaways came from A&M point guard Curtyce Knox who drew the start after usual starter Jordan Jones tore her ACL against Missouri on Thursday night. In Jones' place, Knox scored four points and did not acquire an assist in her 23 minutes of play. Due to Knox being in foul trouble in both halves, Courtney Walker also assumed the point guard position some during Sunday's game.
It's hard to find a positive take away from the loss, but games of both Courtney Williams and Khaalia Hillsman should be commended. Williams finished the day with a team high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting and picked up five assists, while Hillsman scored in double figures for the third time in four games, following up her double-double on Thursday with 10 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes of action.
With the regular season now officially behind them, the Aggies look ahead to the most important part of the year. For A&M, postseason play begins at approximately 2:30 on Thursday afternoon as the fifth-seed in the SEC Tournament as the Aggies will take on either the 12 or 13 seed (most likely either Vanderbilt or Florida as the 12 or Auburn as the 13). Assuming that seeding holds, the Aggies look destined for another tussle with LSU on Friday in the four-five matchup.
As far as how this loss effects the NCAA Tournament, the Aggies chance of hosting the first two rounds are all but gone barring a run in Little Rock next week and it looks like A&M will be going on the road to start play for the first time since the national title run in 2011. A&M is currently projected as a five seed by ESPN Bracketologist Charlie Crme but could fall depending on how much the committee takes into account Jones' injury and the way A&M plays without her during the SEC Tournament.
LSU grabbed the lead from the opening tip (literally as Harden grabbed A&M freshman Khaalia Hillsman's tip to start the game and finished with a layup just five seconds into the contest) and never looked back, using a 21-3 run midway through the first half to open up a 20-point lead with 6:54 remaining in the period.
The Aggies whittled the lead back down to 12 before the break and opened the second half with a bucket to drop it to 10, but that's as close as it would get the rest of the day as the Tigers seemingly had an answer every time A&M would begin to make a push.
Surprisingly, the Aggies had a solid day shooting the ball, hitting on a 57% clip, but were hampered by rampant turnovers that allowed LSU to grow their lead in the first half. In total, A&M gave the ball up 24 times which the Tigers used to score 27 points off turnovers.
Four of those giveaways came from A&M point guard Curtyce Knox who drew the start after usual starter Jordan Jones tore her ACL against Missouri on Thursday night. In Jones' place, Knox scored four points and did not acquire an assist in her 23 minutes of play. Due to Knox being in foul trouble in both halves, Courtney Walker also assumed the point guard position some during Sunday's game.
It's hard to find a positive take away from the loss, but games of both Courtney Williams and Khaalia Hillsman should be commended. Williams finished the day with a team high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting and picked up five assists, while Hillsman scored in double figures for the third time in four games, following up her double-double on Thursday with 10 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes of action.
With the regular season now officially behind them, the Aggies look ahead to the most important part of the year. For A&M, postseason play begins at approximately 2:30 on Thursday afternoon as the fifth-seed in the SEC Tournament as the Aggies will take on either the 12 or 13 seed (most likely either Vanderbilt or Florida as the 12 or Auburn as the 13). Assuming that seeding holds, the Aggies look destined for another tussle with LSU on Friday in the four-five matchup.
As far as how this loss effects the NCAA Tournament, the Aggies chance of hosting the first two rounds are all but gone barring a run in Little Rock next week and it looks like A&M will be going on the road to start play for the first time since the national title run in 2011. A&M is currently projected as a five seed by ESPN Bracketologist Charlie Crme but could fall depending on how much the committee takes into account Jones' injury and the way A&M plays without her during the SEC Tournament.