WBB: No. 4 Aggies trounce Houston 94-55, remain perfect on year

With wins previously this season against Rice, TCU and SMU, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team would be the frontrunner in a mythical Southwest Conference race this season.

On Saturday afternoon, the No. 4 Aggies kept their record against their former conferences foes perfect by knocking off the Houston Cougars 94-55 at Reed Arena. With the win, the Aggies maintain the longest active win streak in the nation and sit at a perfect 11-0 on the season.

Courtney Walker led the Aggies with 19 points while Achiri Ade came off the bench and nearly registered a double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down nine rebounds in just 17 minutes of actuion.

“I thought our kids were ready to play,” said A&M head coach Gary Blair. “We shot over 50% the whole ball game, I just liked our shot selection. We saw early that the three-ball wasn’t going so we got rid of it and started getting the ball inside.”

With 11:43 left in the first half, Houston’s Marche’ Amerson, a native of Bryan, connected on a three-pointer to give the Cougars an early 13-12 lead. However, from that point on it was all Aggies as A&M used a 29-3 run over the next nine minutes to sprint out to a 21-point lead, their largest of the first half.

During that stretch, Walker went 2-of-2 from the floor and 5-of-5 from the free throw line for a total of nine points. After having her consecutive games with at least 10 points streak broken on Tuesday against SMU, Walker rebounded by showing why she’s one of the best shooters on the squad.

In total, the junior from Edmond, Oklahoma went 6-of-6 from the field and 7-of-9 from the stripe, finishing with 19 points and the 58th double-figure game of her career.

“At halftime, Walker was 5-of-5, 7-of-7 from the line, with no rebounds and four turnovers,” said Blair. “We talked about being a complete player. I thought she played better in the second half even though she didn’t score but one basket.”

While the first half of the contest was highlighted by Walker’s 17 points, the second belonged to A&M’s trio of post players.

In all, the combination of freshman Khaalia Hillsman, sophomore Jada Terry and junior Rachel Mitchell finished the game with 29 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks and A&M as a team won the points in the paint stat 54-12.

“Our fives did a great job of finishing the easy layups,” said Ade. “Our guards did a good job of getting them the ball. Finishing inside will always make a difference in a blowout.”

Although the Aggie posts were able to have their way inside against the Cougars, Blair knows that a different animal awaits come conference play.

“In the SEC, they’re going to meet you at the top, they’re not going to play bank robber defense,” said Blair. “We’ve got to get better at elevating and scoring and just keep developing those 5s. Every day is a mystery to me with each one of them, but man, I love their potential.”

The bulk of A&M’s nonconference slate is behind them, but their biggest non-SEC test still remains. If the Aggies want to remain perfect on the year – and perfect against former Southwest Conference foes –they will need to find a way to best the third-ranked Texas Longhorns next Sunday.

Though not the first meeting of the two teams since A&M’s departure from the Big 12, Texas won 69-58 last year in the Paradise Jam Classic in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Ade knows the importance of the rivalry and that it will take a complete performance to come away with a win.

“Playing Texas is a big deal for us and I feel like we’re a completely different team than last year,” said Ade. “We just have to keep executing and do what we do well. It’s the little things that will matter for us.”

For Blair, someone who is as familiar with the A&M-Texas rivalry as anyone, the upcoming contest serves as a benchmark for his team.

“It’s going to be a war,” said Blair. “Texas is playing as good as South Carolina or Connecticut right now. They have that swag about them right now. We’re going to have our hands full, but it will be a great final exam for us. We passed it against Duke and we passed it against DePaul, now we’ll see if we can pass it against Texas.”

That test comes next Sunday afternoon at 12:30 pm in Little Rock, Arkansas as part of the SEC/Big 12 challenge and can be seen on the SEC Network.