Gary Blair
Nikki Caldwell
Moncrief & Ballard
Texas A&M Women's Basketball
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
A&M's Courtney Walker scored a game-high 22 points and went 10-of-20 from the field in Sunday's win.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Tori Scott provided 11 points in 18 minutes off the bench. The junior from Louisiana also added six rebounds in the win.
WBB: #18 A&M defeats #14 LSU 72-67, now 8-2 in SEC play
When Texas A&M moved to the SEC in 2012, some feared the Aggies would be without a true rival.
But if Sunday’s women’s basketball contest against the LSU Lady Tigers is any indication, A&M has found – or renewed – one with the team across the Sabine River.
Led by 22 points from sophomore Courtney Walker and an additional 16 from sophomore Courtney Williams, the No. 18 Aggies defeated the No. 14 Lady Tigers 72-67 in a knockdown, drag-out game at Reed Arena.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
A&M's Courtney Walker scored a game-high 22 points and went 10-of-20 from the field in Sunday's win.
With the win, A&M improves to 18-6 on the season and 8-2 in conference play while LSU falls to 18-6 overall and 7-4 in the SEC. A&M also defeated the Tigers earlier this season 52-48 in Baton Rouge on January 9th.
“That was arguably the best game in the SEC all year,” said A&M head coach Gary Blair. “This is what starts a rivalry. You’ve got to have close games. You’ve got to have mutual respect for each other.”
After back and forth play for much of the first half, the Aggies took a 25-24 lead to the locker room even though they trailed most of the period. The Tigers led by as many as seven during the first 20 minutes, but an 8-0 A&M run gave them the one-point advantage at the break.
Besides A&M point guard Jordan Jones picking up three fouls, the first half was relatively ordinary in a season full of highly competitive basketball.
However, the second half was as unique and exciting to watch as any you would ever see.
Over the final 20 minutes of the game, 34 fouls were called with 21 of those going against the Lady Tigers. Although some found the stoppage of play annoying, the quick-whistled officiating crew only seemed to add to the atmosphere inside Reed Arena.
“I don’t think the referees were calling good fouls,” said LSU’s Danielle Ballard. “I think the fouls were petty and our players weren’t really fouling them at all. I feel that they got away with some of those fouls and half of those calls cost us the game because they were always on the free throw line.”
With 9:45 remaining, Tori Scott, one of only two Aggies who didn’t record a single foul, hit A&M’s only three-pointer of the contest to give the Aggies their biggest lead of the game at 49-42. The Louisiana native has become a consistent threat off the bench over the past few games and scored 11 points in just 18 minutes of play.
“We have a lot of confidence in Tori,” stated Walker. “She has done that a couple of games. We know that she can come in and hit big shots, play good [defense], and take care of business.”
A&M was never able to fully pull away from the Lady Tigers and allowed LSU to cut the lead down to just one on three different occasions down the stretch. On two of the instances, Ballard provided the points to cut the lead to its slimmest margin. The sophomore from Memphis finished the game with 17 points and seven rebounds to lead the Lady Tigers.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Tori Scott provided 11 points in 18 minutes off the bench. The junior from Louisiana also added six rebounds in the win.
Not to be outdone, Walker answered the call each time the lead was cut to keep the Aggies out in front. Her final answer might have been the best as the Oklahoma native was able to gather a miss by Williams and bank in a layup to put A&M up three with less than a minute to play.
“It came right to me. I was just in the right place in the right time,” said Walker. “I was kind of spontaneous. Coach likes us to pull the ball out, especially because they are big inside. But when I got it and saw the open court on the other side, I just laid it in.”
Forward Achiri Ade and Williams then connected on one of two free throws each on the Aggies’ next two trips down the floor to ice the game.
In all, A&M went 25-of-35 (71%) from the charity stripe including a 9-of-12 (75%) performance from centers Karla Gilbert and Rachel Mitchell.
Although the Aggies were victorious in both contests against the Lady Tigers this season, Ballard still feels that LSU is the better team and that A&M is not what she considers a rival.
“I feel like we’re better than Texas A&M, it’s just that we didn’t come out hard and that’s what cost us the game,” concluded Ballard. “I don’t think it’s a rivalry. I know any time we go against A&M it’s going to be a battle between us, but I don’t think it’s a rival game.”
When asked about Ballard’s comments, Williams’ and Gilbert’s response was deafening.
“Well, we are 2-0 against them,” said Williams. Gilbert then added, “We’ll just leave it at that.”
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