No. 5 A&M overwhelms Northwestern St. on Elementary Day

Like the phrase made popular by the famed Sherlock Holmes, the No. 5 Texas A&M women’s basketball team made Wednesday’s contest against the Northwestern State Lady Demon seem simple — elementary even.

In front of the largest regular season non-conference crowd in school history, more than 4,000 of which were elementary school students from the Brazos Valley, the Aggies (8-0) blew past the Lady Demons (4-2), 75-42, on Elementary School Day at Reed Arena.

Junior point guard Jordan Jones led A&M with 15 points and 10 assists, the fifth double-double of her career.

“It (the atmosphere) was great and the kids were awesome,” said Jones. “Coming out and hearing them scream put a good spirit in our hearts before the game, during the game and after the game.”

After trading baskets to begin the game, the Aggies found their groove midway through the first half and used a 26-7 run fueled by a pair of three-pointers from Jones and turnover-forcing defense to take a 33-14 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the period.

From that point on A&M never looked back, taking a 40-21 advantage to the locker room before growing the lead to as many as 33 in the second half. Coach Gary Blair was pleased with his team’s performance and commended Jones’ phenomenal effort.

“Jordan Jones is on a roll,” said Blair. “She would have had five more assists in the first half, but we missed the layups or shot. She would have had 17 or 18 assists but we didn’t finish every shot.”

With 14:07 left in the first half, Jones fed center Rachel Mitchell — who scored on a layup — for her fourth assist of the day. One possession later, Jones once again found Mitchell inside for the score, giving her sole possession of eighth place on the all-time A&M assists list with nearly two years to go in her career.

Had she not committed a double-dribble violation in the second half, Jones would have completed three straight games without a turnover.

“Not really,” Jones answered when asked if she thinks about the length of time between turnovers. “I just try to stay in the flow of the game. I was pretty upset that it was on a double-dribble. All I could think about was that it was one possession that took away from my team’s opportunity to score.”

Of Jones’ 10 assists, three came on buckets from A&M post players. With a vast size difference inside, A&M was able to have success early and often down low against the Lady Demons. In total, the combination of Mitchell, sophomore Jada Terry and freshman Khaalia Hillsman went 9-of-15 from the floor and scored 21 points.

“I was able to work Rachel in and she did a good job of scoring,” said Blair of his 6-7 post. “I wanted to get her confidence up. At times in the second half I had both Khaalia and Jada in there. It’s a lineup I can throw in there a few times and get the other team in foul trouble.

"If I was a five-player, I wouldn’t have wanted to come out because of the size advantage they had the whole ball game.”

With their five-game home stand now finished, A&M travels to the metroplex for a pair of contests against former Southwest Conference foes TCU and SMU. On Sunday, the Aggies and Frogs tangle at 1 pm before A&M takes on the Mustangs Tuesday evening at 7 pm.

“We’re going to take (this win) and build off it as we go on the road,” said Blair. “We’ve got two tough games against TCU and SMU but it gives our Dallas-Fort Worth fans a chance to come out and see us.”