WBB: #6 A&M defeats PVAMU 59-41, moves to 5-0 to start season

It definitely wasn’t pretty.

It definitely wasn’t what you would expect from a squad returning four starters from an Elite Eight appearance.

But the sixth-ranked Texas A&M women’s basketball team kept their record perfect on Monday night.

Behind a 10-point outing from junior Courtney Walker and a career-high eight points from sophomore Jada Terry, the Aggies (5-0) defeated the visiting Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers 59-41 in front of 3,523 fans at Reed Arena on Monday night. With the win A&M has now won 16 in a row over the Lady Panthers (0-3) and have started the year 5-0 for the fifth time in seven years.

“We’re a work in progress, and that’s the way it’s going to be for a while,” said A&M head coach Gary Blair. “We’re not trying to fool anyone right now into making them think that we are the greatest team in the world.”

Taking a lead as large as six points right out of the gate, the Lady Panthers showed no signs early on of playing scared against the more talented Aggies. Guard Jeanette Jackson started hot, scoring nine points on three three-pointers in the game’s first four minutes for Prairie View.

“We wanted to dictate the tempo of the game and didn’t want to be in a rush to score the ball,” said Prairie View head coach Dawn Brown. “We had to make sure we valued every possession that we got. We went with our veterans and were able to withstand a few hits there and were successful in the first half.”

After relinquishing their lead, the Lady Panthers’ Shamiya Brooks hit on a layup with 5:08 left in the first half to once again tie the contest. However, that would be their last points for nearly the next nine minutes of game time as A&M proceeded to rattle off a 20-0 run spanning two halves to take a 39-19 lead with 16:35 remaining in the game.

Sparked by a basket from guard Curtyce Knox and six straight points by Walker, the Aggies used the run to take control of the contest and never let their lead slip below 15 for the remainder of the night.

But while the game was never in question in the second period, A&M did not look particularly crisp down the stretch. This frustrated Blair and caused him to make a full five-player substitution in the game’s waning moments after Walker turned the ball over with 1:37 left to play.

“I don’t think I’ve ever taken out a starting five out with two minutes to go in the game, but that five deserved to come out,” said Blair. “It was a team wide thing on turnovers. There’s no excuse for making that many turnovers in the second half.”

In total, A&M committed 19 turnovers and shot a disappointing 53% (10-of-19) from the free throw line.

Although they sputtered to the finish line offensively due to the aforementioned turnovers, the Aggies did well on the defense end in the second half, holding the Lady Panthers to just 17% (6-of-36) shooting in the game’s final 20 minutes.

Included in that percentage was a 2-for-11 second half outing from Jackson, who torched the Aggies in the game’s first minutes.

“We stuck to Coach (Bob) Starkey’s game plan,” said point guard Jordan Jones on how they shut down Jackson in the second half. “We really listen to what our coaches have to say at halftime and do a good job adjusting to what they tell us to do.”

The evening also saw the season debut of A&M guard/forward Courtney Williams who was forced to sit out the first four games of the season while serving a suspension. Williams came off the bench on Monday to scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds in 18 minutes of action.

“I was excited for her,” said Jones. “She came in and hit her first shot, a baseline jump shot that got her in the flow of the offense. It was just great to have her back because she’s been playing so hard and working so hard in practice. She’s been doing the little things for this team even though she couldn’t play.”

With the lackluster win in their pocket, the Aggies have just one more tune up game before hosting seventh-ranked Duke on Sunday afternoon – a 7 p.m. matchup with McNeese State on Wednesday night.

“Are we looking ahead to Duke? No, we are looking ahead to each practice and getting better as a basketball team,” said Blair. “There are certainly things we do well, but we don’t do anything consistently well. That’s where we need to get better.”