Anriel Howard conducts Aggies to victory over LSU, 69-59

The No. 16 Aggies (16-5, 5-2 SEC) followed a strong offensive performance from Anriel Howard to take down LSU, 69-59, at Reed Arena on Sunday.

Howard, who is seventh in the country in rebounds, logged a double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds. When she wasn’t crashing the glass, Howard was taking missed shots and inside passes and turning them into points.

“I think tonight we had to be more of an inside-out team,” Howard said after the game. “Obviously, our shots weren’t going in the first half cause they weren’t the best shots. But once we got it on the inside, our game started to flow a little bit more, and our inside presence is pretty powerful.”

The Aggies had four other players score in double-digits: Khaalia Hillsman finished with 14 points, Chennedy Carter notched 10 and Jasmine Lumpkin scored 10 and had eight assists and eight rebounds.

In addition to a strong performance from Howard, the Aggies attacked the rim to get to the free throw line.

They scored 24 points from the stripe on 32 attempts compared to LSU’s 13.

In the two games against LSU last year – one home and one on the road – A&M got to the line only 11 times.

Head coach Gary Blair said he focuses on free throw shooting in practice so his team can overcome stretches of missed shots when they reach the line.

“They have to shoot 100 free throws each week and we got everything up on the board and it’s sort of a race to see what percentages we can get,” Blair said. “And our good free throw shooters are shooting 90-something percent in practice. I concentrate on it. We’ve only got one that’s shooting poorly.”

LSU’s offensive attack was lead by Raigyne Louis with 18 points, followed by the team’s leading scorer, Chloe Jackson, with 14 points. Ayana Mitchell scored 13 points, as well. Ultimately, the fouls the Tigers committed in the second half helped the Aggies pull away and finish off the game.

Blair said he liked the offensive output but still sees room for improvement moving forward the rest of the way.

“We were able to win the game and not play our best,” Blair said. “And that’s because of the home crowd and because we’ve got a lot of talent. And once my talent recognizes to get five people involved in the offense and spread it around, we’re going to be a very good basketball team.”

The Aggies will return to action when they travel to take on Vanderbilt in Nashville on Sunday. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

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