Five Thoughts: #3 Texas A&M 86, #6 Auburn 54

1. What a performance by the ladies tonight. Not much at all to complain about with a 32-point victory – which could have been much larger if Gary Blair so chose – in a conference tournament. A&M dominated basically every statistical category of the game including a 43-26 advantage on the boards, a 59%-33% shooting advantage from the field, and a 30-26 advantage on points in the paint. The only statistical category in which the Tigers were even on par with the Aggies was in turnovers as both teams finished the game with 15 a piece.  While Blair would still love to drop that number lower, he seemed content after giving up the ball 27 times in the first meeting of the two teams.

Additionally, A&M did a solid job of limiting the Tanner sisters (Tyrese and Tra’Cee) in this one. Last time, the duo combined for 26 points and kept Auburn in the game longer than the team would have liked, but tonight, the two players scored just 20 with a portion of those coming in garbage time. The Aggies were able to send both sisters to the bench with foul trouble in the first half and had the game locked down by the time they got going in the second.

2. The player of the game in this one was obvious. Courtney Walker had one of her best halves of basketball as an Aggie in the first half of Friday’s game, opening on 7-of-7 shooting. Of those first seven baskets, six were mid- to long-range jumpers that required the sophomore to elevate over her defender in order to knock down the shot. Walker finished the game with 25 points on 11-of 15 shooting, but could have easily broken 30 had Blair not called her night done with about 11 minutes remaining in the game.
Always humble, Walker gave credit to her teammates for creating the open looks, but anyone in the arena could tell she had something special going on against the Tigers.

3. Although the Aggies held a 17-point lead at the half, I think saying that A&M’s defensive performance over the first part of the second half was the final nail in the Orange and Blue coffin. While not a true “turning point”, A&M dismantled the Tigers’ offensive attack, allowing just nine points to be scored against them while the starting unit was still in the game for the first 11+ minutes of the second half. During that stretch, Auburn went 3-of-17 from the field and committed four turnovers.

4. A&M’s bench play was also solid on Friday night and saw more action than they normally do. In fact, all but one player on the A&M roster saw time on the court and all but a total of two (including Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar who did not play) did something worthy of recording in the box score.  The bench was on the floor for 87 of the possible 200 minutes played by the team (43.5%) and outscored the Auburn bench 26-20.

As usual, Tori Scott was the leader of the bench, scoring seven points and adding six rebounds in 17 minutes of action, while Curtyce Knox added six and Chelsea Jennings added five. Center Rachel Mitchell also saw a ton of time in the first half and while she only finished the game with two points, her bucket was worth noting. At 6-7 Mitchell isn’t what you would consider much of a jump shooter, but the sophomore hit a nice turnaround jumper from about six feet over the Auburn defender with 3:39 left in the first half.

5. Finally, a look at the other action that occurred on Friday in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. In game one of the say, top-seeded South Carolina rolled over Georgia 67-48 behind double-digit performances from four Gamecocks. In game two, fifth-seeded Florida gave fourth-seeded Kentucky a run for their money, but eventually lost to the Wildcats 75-70. The first game of the nightcap saw second-seeded Tennessee defeat tenth-seeded LSU 77-65 even though the Tigers led the majority of the game. LSU held a lead as large as 15 points in the first half, but the Lady Vols stormed back and got double-digit scoring from all five of their starters to avoid the upset.

All four top-seeded teams advanced to the semifinals, meaning Tennessee and A&M will meet in the 2-3 matchup on Saturday. It’ll be the second time in two years the two teams have met in the semifinals, with the Aggies being victorious in last year’s tournament. Tennessee beat A&M earlier this season in College Station, but much like 2013, A&M has a chance to beat the Lady Vols when it matters most on Saturday.