Johnson's Putback Pushes Aggies Past Rice, 62-61
HOUSTON (AP) Chennedy Carter scored 29 points and Ciera Johnson made a layup with 9 seconds left to give No. 5 Texas A&M a 62-61 victory over Rice on Sunday.
Carter, the preseason Southeastern Conference player of the year, was 11 of 27 from the field, including 4 of 8 on 3-pointers. She scored 17 points in the first quarter, outscoring the Owls by herself, as Texas A&M built a 24-14 lead.
Kayla Wells added 19 points for Texas A&M (3-0), which shot 39 percent from the field. The Aggies forced Rice into 19 turnovers, which turned into 19 points.
After Rice had regained a one-point lead, Shambria Washington missed a corner 3-pointer, but Johnson grabbed the rebound and put it in for the lead. Sydne Wiggins last second 3-pointer missed.
Lauren Schwartz had 19 points, and Wiggins added 13 points for Rice (2-2), which shot 38 percent from the field. Scoring leader Erica Ogwumike was in foul trouble and had nine points and 12 rebounds.
Gary Blair Radio Show at 6 p.m. on Monday
Fans are invited to join Coach Gary Blair and host Steve Miller for the first Gary Blair Radio Show of the 2019-20 season at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 18. The show will originate from Rudy's Country Store and Bar-B-Q at 504 Harvey Road in College Station, Texas.
Notes
- Junior guard Chennedy Carter scored a season-high 29 points on 11-of-27 shooting, including 4-of-8 from the three-point line. It was Carter's 49th career game with 20 or more points and extended her school record streak of double-digit games to 42 (67 total).
- Junior guard Kayla Wells chipped in a season-high 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from long range.
- After Rice matched its biggest lead of the night with a four-point advantage at 57-53, the Aggies limited the Owls to just four more points over the final six minutes and 28 seconds, including just a single bucket in the final 4:47.
- Despite the presence of 6-foot-9 Rice center Nancy Mulkey, the Aggies held a 34-18 advantage in the paint and had a 15-5 advantage on second-chance points.
- The Aggies' biggest lead of the game was 11 points (at the 6:07 point of the 2nd quarter) and held a lead over the Owls for over 28 minutes (28:35) of the game.
- With the win, the Aggies improved to 3-0, while Rice fell to 2-2. Texas A&M returns to action with a matchup against USC in Los Angeles, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 23.
First Half Notes:
- Chennedy Carter scored 17 points in the first quarter and had 21 by halftime, marking the 49th 20-point game of her career. The Aggies' only other double-digit scorer in the first half was Kayla Wells with 10.
- The Aggies took a seven-point advantage at 36-29 into halftime. Texas A&M had advantages in points from turnovers (13-6), points in the paint (20-4), second-chance points (6-1) and fast break points (8-1) at the break.
Gary Blair said:
"It's an emotional game anytime you have a regional rivalry. We preached all week how good Rice is and how they finished the year last year. Give them a lot of credit. They didn't turn it over in the second half like they did in the first half. We only had 12 turnovers and I thought that was pretty good, but some of them were costly. That was a pretty good matchup with (Nancy) Mulkey and (Ciera) Johnson. Sometimes the scoring is taken away from Ciera until she can get the offensive boards, and tonight we got the timely offensive board. And instead of being a rim shooter she was smart enough to use the glass.
Kayla Wells said:
"We came into the game knowing we would have adversity. We were playing in a hostile environment and the crowd was amazing. We knew we were going to have to fight and have to fight hard. Every time we play Rice it always come down to the wire, so we knew what we were up against. My team handled adversity really well.
Chennedy Carter said:
"We fought and stayed together. When Rice made a run, everyone stayed calm. Kayla Wells made some nice plays down the stretch and guarded their best player nearly the whole game. Rice is very patient on offense and that forces teams to be patient, but sometimes teams become undisciplined. We had some undisciplined moments in the game, but I think through the course of the game we did a lot of things right."
BOX SCORE https://12thman.com/boxscore.aspx?path=wbball&id=10924