Texas A&M edges Auburn 69-67 earning fourth straight win

The No. 24 Texas A&M women’s basketball team extended their win streak to four on Thursday night as the Aggies defeated the Auburn Tigers in a 69-67 nail-biter at Auburn Arena.

Heading into the game, Auburn (15-4, 3-3 SEC) sought their first top 25 win in their last 19 attempts and their first ever win over Texas A&M. However, a game-winning drive to the rim by Chennedy Carter kept that dream on hold for the Tigers with just 4.6 seconds to play.

For just the fifth time in school history, only six players stepped out on the hardwood during the night. Of those six players, just four were able to put points on the board. All four of the Aggie scorers reached double-digit figures, led by Chennedy Carter with 28 points. Kayla Wells added 19 points, N’dea Jones had 11 points and 15 rebounds, and Ciera Johnson posted 11 points and 9 rebounds.

Texas A&M (15-4, 4-2 SEC) struck first in the game, but the Aggies took a hard loss in the turnover battle in a low-scoring first quarter. During the first 6 minutes of play, the maroon and white averaged a turnover a minute and struggled to outshine Auburn’s strong defensive effort.

After the first half, head coach Gary Blair was frustrated with his team’s overwhelming number of traveling violations and an eight-point deficit.

“They’re controlling the tempo. We can’t keep running an offense 40 feet from the basket,” said Coach Blair at halftime.

Texas A&M worked to gain control of the game as they retook the court. The momentum quickly changed as the Aggies posted an 11-point lead over the Tigers in an incredible third quarter led by Chennedy Carter. The star point-guard shot at a 50% clip from three as the Aggies outscored Auburn 25-14 heading into the final ten minutes of play.

Despite the maroon and white’s strong third quarter effort, Auburn rallied back from the deficit with just under four minutes to play, tying the game with 17 seconds remaining. With multiple trips to the charity stripe, the Aggies just couldn’t make the free-throws needed to widen their lead, and it all came down to Carter. With no timeouts left, Carter marked her third career game-winning shot and saved the day for Texas A&M.

This game concludes the Aggies' stretch with four-of-five games on the road. Texas A&M returns home to Reed Arena to host No. 15 Kentucky on Sunday, January 27 at 4 p.m.

Special thanks to Mac Resource Computers for their sponsorship of all women's basketball content produced throughout the season at TexAgs.com! For the seventh consecutive year, all WBB content will be available to you for free!