Gary Blair
Jones & Walker
UK's Coach/Players
Texas A&M Women's Basketball
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
A&M sophomore Courtney Walker led all scorers with 26 points. She also picked up 10 rebounds for her first double-double.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
A&M's Courtney Williams scored 16 points, registered four rebounds and blocked on shot in 32 minutes of action during Sunday's loss.
WBB: A&M falls short against No. 15 Kentucky, 83-74
In football, the saying goes that championships are won and lost in the trenches. To relate that to the hardwood, one can compare the gridiron’s line of scrimmage to the ‘paint’ on the basketball court.
On Sunday afternoon, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team’s hopes of a regular season SEC championship were dashed after an 83-74 loss to No. 15 Kentucky. The Wildcats dominated inside, out-rebounding A&M 47-32 and outscoring the No. 13 Aggies 34-26 in the paint.
Although A&M is not mathematically eliminated from a portion of the title, the chances of everything happening to snag a share are extremely small.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
A&M sophomore Courtney Walker led all scorers with 26 points. She also picked up 10 rebounds for her first double-double.
“In the first half, they played a whole lot harder than us and killed us on the boards,” said A&M head coach Gary Blair. “They shot layup after layup and were getting to the hole with ease against our man defense.”
One of those first half layups, from junior Jelleah Sidney, allowed the Wildcats to grow their early lead to eight points at 21-13 with 10:04 remaining in the first half.
With the Aggies being denied inside, sophomore Courtney Walker used a flurry of timely jumpers to keep A&M in the game. In fact, Walker scored 14 of the team’s next 17 points to lead a 17-7 run which gave A&M a 30-28 lead with 3:49 left in the period.
But shortly after the run, both Walker and Gilbert picked up their second fouls. With two of the team’s leaders on the bench, Kentucky regained the lead and took a 39-34 advantage to the locker room at the break.
“We emphasized sticking together when adversity hit and to not let it get to us when A&M went on their run,” said Kentucky forward DeNesha Stallworth. “We just stuck together, had our poise, ran our plays and had confidence throughout the game.”
In the second half, A&M immediately cut the lead to one on a jumper from Courtney Williams, but Kentucky replied with one of their many answers.
At least seven times in the final 20 minutes, A&M looked poised to take control of the game as they cut the Wildcats’ lead to two or three points.
But Kentucky answered the call each time, whether with a timely three-pointer from leading scorer Jennifer O’Neill, a bucket inside from any number of players, or a pair of free throws from freshman Makayla Epps.
Epps, who came into the game as a 46% free throw shooter, hit on 11-of-14 attempts from the stripe in Sunday’s contest.
“I’m disappointed,” stated Blair. “I thought every time we fought our way back in, Kentucky made some key shots. They were more ready to play.”
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
A&M's Courtney Williams scored 16 points, registered four rebounds and blocked on shot in 32 minutes of action during Sunday's loss.
A&M’s final hurrah came with just under three minutes to play as center Karla Gilbert banked in a layup to cut the lead to 75-72. Epps proceeded to drive to the basket on the other end of the floor and split a pair of free throws after being fouled to push the lead back to two possessions.
Gilbert came into Sunday’s game averaging almost 17 points and eight rebounds over the last seven games, but was as limited to just nine points and seven boards.
"Give credit to Kentucky because Karla had been scoring 20+ points for the last three or four games," said A&M point guard Jordan Jones. "They really did a good job of taking her away and double-teaming inside the post."
Although Walker’s first half performance was stellar, she was unable to duplicate it and went just 2-of-12 from the floor over the final 20 minutes. Still, the Oklahoma native tied a career high with 26 points and picked up the first double-double of her career by adding 10 rebounds.
“I felt like some of my shots in the second half were more open than ones in the first,” said Walker. “I just have to hit them.”
A&M must now put this loss behind them and prepare for Thursday’s matchup with Blair’s former team, the Arkansas Razorbacks. It will be senior day at Reed Arena, and Blair expects for seniors Gilbert, Kristen Grant and Cristina Sanchez-Quintinar to be honored with a win.
“We’re playing Arkansas, so it better mean something,” concluded Blair. “We lost on senior day last year to LSU. That should never ever happen on senior day. You honor those seniors. We’ll honor those seniors that played last year that didn’t come up with a win as well."
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