Sweet passes lead to sweet baskets. Sweet baskets lead to sweet stat lines. Sweet stat lines lead to sweet victories.
Enough sweet victories lead to the Sweet Sixteen.
On Tuesday night the third-seeded Texas A&M women’s basketball team punched its ticket to the program’s sixth regional semifinal with an 85-69 victory over the 11th-seeded James Madison Dukes in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Karla Gilbert led the Aggies with 20 points and 15 rebounds.
Courtney Williams added 23 more points, while
Courtney Walker added 18 and
Jordan Jones dished out 16 assists in the win.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Though James Madison put up a strong fight, A&M eventually overpowered with its advantage in talent, speed and, this time, size.
{"Module":"photo","Alignment":"right","Size":"large","Caption":"Though James Madison put up a strong fight, A\u0026M eventually overpowered with its advantage in talent, speed and, this time, size.","MediaItemID":42367}
“We were flowing today,” said Gilbert. “We got to beat them from the inside first. Our guards were awesome today. They were penetrating the basket and knocking down shots. It made it hard for them to guard both (inside and outside).”
Behind seven points from Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year Kirby Burkholder and seven more from junior forward Toia Giggetts, the Dukes jumped out to an early 20-14 lead with 10:22 remaining in the first half.
Shortly after, the Aggies flexed their muscle and reeled off a quick 8-0 spurt, highlighted by a six-point possession, to take a two-point lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the period.
The advantage-changing possession began when Jones dished it ahead to Williams, who was fouled by James Madison’s Nikki Newman in the process of banking home a layup. Newman let the official know she disagreed with the call and was quickly assessed a technical foul which Walker turned into two points at the free throw line.
After the technical free throws Williams took her turn at the stripe from the initial play but missed. However, Gilbert cleaned up the rebound and put it back in for two to cap off the 8-0 run.
“I had a long conversation with the official,” said James Madison head coach Kenny Brooks. “I just explained that I thought it was emotion. That play hurt because it gave them three free throws.”
A&M rode the momentum from taking its first lead since the game’s opening basket to a 47-43 advantage at the break. The 47 first-half points by the Aggies were the most given up in a single half by James Madison all season.
“I thought our offense had things going and we played well long enough to keep us in the game,” Brooks said of his team’s first half performance. “Our defense was strained because we had to go to the zone for too long, and we knew it.”
After halftime A&M came out clicking on all cylinders and raced to a 10-point lead off a flurry of baskets from Williams, Gilbert, Walker and sophomore
Chelsea Jennings. However, the Dukes held tough and whittled the Aggie lead back down to six with just under 14 minutes left in the game.
But once again A&M asserted its dominance and clamped down on the Dukes by continuously going to Gilbert inside when in the half-court offense and scoring on transition buckets when a defensive stop allowed.
When you have one team that’s trying to go inside 80 percent (of the time), there’s going to be a disparity on fouls. That’s what we were trying to do. We were going to go inside and make the whistle happen.
- Gary Blair
{"Module":"quote","Alignment":"right","Quote":"When you have one team that’s trying to go inside 80 percent (of the time), there’s going to be a disparity on fouls. That’s what we were trying to do. We were going to go inside and make the whistle happen.","Author":"Gary Blair"}
“She’s big,” said Burkholder of Gilbert. “Sometimes she would be open up there, and we really didn’t know how. She made a lot of shots and got a lot of fouls.”
In the end, foul trouble that started early for James Madison hampered its ability to compete down the stretch and the Aggies were able to pick up the double-digit victory on their way to the Sweet Sixteen.
“When you have one team that’s trying to go inside 80 percent (of the time), there’s going to be a disparity on fouls,” said A&M head coach Gary Blair. “That’s what we were trying to do. We were going to go inside and make the whistle happen.”
Now the Aggies switch their focus to their regional semifinal opponent, the seventh-seeded DePaul Blue Demons. After failing to get out of the second round last season, Gilbert is ready to capitalize on her third Sweet Sixteen in her four year career.
“We’re not done,” Gilbert said. “We’re not willing to settle. I’m ready to finish this senior season off with a great ending.”
