Malone scores 24 as A&M bounces back vs. Northwestern State
Texas A&M (3-2) stumbled out of the gate against Northwestern State (2-3) on Sunday afternoon before pulling away for a 75-54 victory behind Jada Malone’s career-best performance.
“This was a bounce-back game for us,” Lauren Ware said. “We needed to have the right response.”
After a disappointing second half in an 83-62 loss at No. 15 West Virginia, the Aggies were determined to get back on track at home against their second Southland Conference opponent of the season.
“In the West Virginia game, the deciding factor was the third quarter,” Ware said. “So we knew at the start of the game we had to come out with a sense of urgency. I think we had the right energy and urgency.”
Malone went off for a career-high 24 points and nine rebounds to lead the Aggies.
Sahara Jones added 14 points and eight rebounds, and Ware added a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds as the Aggies found more consistency inside on both ends of the court.
Malone on what led to her career high: “My teammates giving me the ball. They trust me to put the ball away whenever I get it. They gave me the ball in the right spots.”
After a slow start, the Aggies rallied to hold a slim 16-13 lead after one quarter.
As both teams struggled to find their groove early in the second, A&M turned to Malone and Jones to provide a spark in the form of a 14-4 run late in the first half.
Malone is coming off a season-ending injury that kept her off the court all of last season. Her size and ability provided a spark on the stat sheet that the Aggies had been missing over the last year.
Jones has played the most minutes as an Aggie, has the most starts and is the oldest player in the program. Stepping up is nothing new to her.
“Jada worked so hard to get herself back from the injury,” A&M coach Joni Taylor said. “She is capable of doing that and I thought we did a really good job of finding her. I thought she did a really good job running the floor.”
Inside, Malone provided steady production to extend A&M’s lead to 35-24 at the half.
“We came into this game knowing we had a size advantage,” Malone said. “It was definitely a focus.”
Taylor’s defense tightened up in the second half, holding Northwestern State’s star guard Sharna Ayers to just five points.
A&M found more success getting Aicha Coulibaly involved and relying on Jones and Malone as an 11-0 run to close the third quarter officially put the game out of reach at 56-37.
When it was all said and done, three Aggies in double figures helped propel the team to a commanding win against the Lady Demons.
“For a one-day turnaround, I thought we were locked into the scouting report and came out with some good energy,” Taylor said.
The bounce-back win and Malone’s 24 points are confidence boosters heading into a challenging part of the Maroon & White’s non-conference schedule.
Next week, the Aggies will travel to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament.
They’ll face Villanova on Sunday in their first game.