WBB: Mizzou's buzzer-beating three defeats Aggies on senior night

It was senior night at Reed Arena on Thursday evening.

With family members in attendance, four outgoing A&M seniors – Achiri Ade, Allison Chu, Tori Scott and Tavarsha Scott-Williams – were honored before the contest for their dedication and commitment to the A&M program.

Unfortunately, their night was spoiled as the Missouri Tigers stole the spotlight with a 70-69, buzzer-beating victory on a last second three-pointer from Maddie Stock. The Tigers shot an outrageous 62% from the floor in the second half and hit five three-pointers in the final 20 minutes to steal the victory.

“You allow a team to shoot 62% in the second half and make five three-pointers on you, good things are usually not going to follow,” said A&M head coach Gary Blair. “I hate it for my seniors. We had a chance to go undefeated at home this year for only the second time since I have been here. Every time I thought we had the game in hand, they would make a play."

After falling down by four with 2:53 remaining, the Aggies mounted a late comeback and tied the game at 67 on a jumper from Courtney Williams with 41 seconds remaining. The Tigers used the majority of the shot clock on their ensuing possession before the Aggies forced an awkward shot that resulted in a defensive rebound for Curtyce Knox.

Knox was immediately fouled with seven seconds to go and proceeded to calmly sink a pair of free throws to put A&M up two at 69-67. However, after a timeout called by Blair, Missouri’s Sierra Michaelis went the length of the court and drove into traffic inside before kicking it out to Stock who nailed the game-clinching three from the corner with 0.1 seconds remaining.

“We were supposed to be in a soft man,” said Ade. “We weren’t supposed to let that drive come through. Somebody didn’t get back in time on the shooter. Courtney Williams took away the drive, she did good on defense, but we let Stock get the open shot.”

Perhaps the game would have gone differently if the Aggies would have had starting point guard Jordan Jones in the second half.

With 5:03 left to play in the first, Jones attempted to plant and change directions while on defense and soon fell to the floor grabbing her knee in what looked like agonizing pain.

Moments later, the officials stopped play and Reed Arena fell dead quiet as she was attended to on the court. After a minute or two of being looked at, Jones was carried off the floor and did not return to action.

“The knee is sprained and she’ll have an MRI tomorrow,” said Blair. “When she went down, my heart went down with her. Generally you know when those situations happen, but we’ll just have to wait for a miracle at the physician’s center in the morning.”

However, Knox played well in her place, scoring a career high 12 points and adding eight rebounds to go with three assists against just one turnover in 31 minutes of action.

If Jones is unable to go against LSU on Sunday in the regular season finale, Ade knows Knox will be able to step up and handle the big stage.

“She did good, she always does,” said Ade. “She really did a good job stepping up with Jordan out, she always does what she needs to get done.”

In order to bounce back from the loss to Missouri, the Aggies will need to find a way to defeat an LSU team that is fighting for its postseason life in Sunday’s regular season finale. One piece to doing so would seem to be the continued emergence of freshman post Khaalia Hillsman.

Hillsman, who didn’t play in A&M’s victory over LSU in January due to sickness, recorded her first career double-double in Thursday’s loss with a career high 16 points and 11 rebounds. Additionally, Hillsman went a stunning 8-of-11 at the free throw line after shooting just 47% for the season coming into the contest.

“She coming, she’s getting better and better,” said Blair. “She’s learning how to get rid of her shot quicker and she’s learning how to get to the offensive boards and bully her way in there. I thought she played great.”

The Aggies received help in the SEC standings on Thursday when Ole Miss defeated LSU, allowing A&M another chance to lock up a double-bye in the SEC Tournament with a victory in Baton Rouge on Sunday.

“We’re playing for fourth place and the double bye,” said Blair. “We win it and we’re in fourth place unless Mississippi State loses at home to Ole Miss. Ole Miss would have then helped us two times in a row, but we have to quit worrying about other teams helping us. We have to help ourselves.”