WBB: Williams' 27 points leads A&M over Arkansas State

This season, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team has played the role of both the favorite and the underdog. But on Monday night, the team took on a new role and played spoiler to three Arkansas State players that hail from the Brazos Valley.

Led by Courtney Williams’ game-high 27 points and Achiri Ade’s second double-double of the year, the Aggies defeated the Red Wolves 80-62 and ruined the homecoming of Bryan-ites Amanda Lawson, Carlette Wyatt and Carlisha Wyatt. The victory moves A&M’s record to 9-4 while Arkansas State falls to 6-6 on the season.

Aundrea Gamble led the Red Wolves with 17 points in a losing effort.

In similar fashion to Saturday’s win over Louisiana Tech, the Aggies started the game by going on an early run and never surrendered their lead. This time, A&M jumped out to an 11-2 lead that would grow to as many as 19 points in the first half before going to the locker room with a 44-30 advantage.

But the Red Wolves wouldn’t go away and made the second half a contest, cutting the lead to as few as six points with just over five minutes to play. However, A&M would close with a 16-4 run which would allow them to hold off the Red Wolves and pick up their ninth win of the season.

While another victory is something to be happy about, perhaps even more encouraging is the continued emergence of Williams as one of, if not the most lethal weapons on the squad.

After scoring a career-high 22 against Louisiana Tech on Saturday, Williams followed it up by breaking that mark, tallying 27 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists on Monday evening.

The sophomore has now scored 10+ in each of her last seven games, and is averaging more than 17 points per game since December 17th.

Now, A&M turns their attention to their final nonconference test of the season. The UTEP Miners come to Reed Arena on Thursday night at 6 PM for an in-state battle.