Gary Blair and Aggies
LSU HC Nikki Fargas
Texas A&M Women's Basketball
Texas A&M Women's Basketball mounts comeback, defeats LSU, 54-52
On Sunday afternoon, the 25th-ranked Texas A&M women's basketball team welcomed SEC foe LSU to town for a pivotal conference match up. After losing a heart-breaker Thursday on the road at Missouri, the Ags were looking for redemption.
Redemption is just what they found, but it did not come easy.
The Aggies also had eight turnovers compared to just three for LSU.
Redemption is just what they found, but it did not come easy.
The Aggies stole a victory at home, 54-52. After being down ten points at halftime and being out-rebounded in the first half, the Ags combined to hold LSU to 20 total points in the second half, while scoring 32 points themselves. Of those 32 second-half points, 18 came in the final quarter. Junior center Khaalia Hillsman was a big contributor down the stretch.
"Today wasn't my finest offensive hour," said Hillsman. "But the team still has a lot of faith in me, and it won't happen too many times where I go 6-13 shooting, but them having confidence in me helped me keep going and going strong."
In the first half, the story of the game was turnovers and rebounding; both went in favor of the Tigers. LSU notched 22 rebounds by the break, including an impressive 11 on the offensive end. Meanwhile, the Ags had 16 boards and only five offensive at the half.
"Give Moncrief a lot of credit. That is the best I have seen her," said Blair. "She is a great defensive player and is averaging five steals a game. What killed us was in the first half. They had 11 offensive boards and had five in the second half, which is still too many."
All of that changed in the second half, when the Ags won the turnover battle, and clawed back in the rebounding battle to nearly pull even with the Tigers.
All of that changed in the second half, when the Ags won the turnover battle, and clawed back in the rebounding battle to nearly pull even with the Tigers.Hillsman was the leading scorer for the Ags, notching 13 points and adding nine rebounds to her stat line. Curtyce Knox and Danni Williams scored with 12 points apiece, while Knox dished out six assists.
Anriel Howard led the team in rebounding with 11 total boards, six of which were on the offensive end.
Anriel Howard led the team in rebounding with 11 total boards, six of which were on the offensive end.
The big shot, however, came from Howard, who made a tough layup with 3.6 seconds left after a broken play that was supposed to produce an open shot.
"Everyone came towards Curtyce there at the end, which made me the open man," said Howard. I just had to knock down the shot because it was not the play call."
The Ags will enjoy an off week before heading to Starkville, Mississippi to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The game will be Sunday, January 29th at 3:00 p.m. on the SEC network.
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