Texas A&M extends the winning streak to seven, defeat Ole Miss 72-60
In a possible trap game, No. 20 Texas A&M (18-4, 7-2) traveled to Oxford on Sunday and handled their business, defeating Ole Miss (8-15, 2-7) 72-60.
Following the recent victory over Vanderbilt at home, Coach Gary Blair spoke of the Ole Miss game from two years ago that saw the Aggies travel to Oxford and lose to the underdog Rebels 62-49. Coach Blair made it clear that his team would be prepared and take a struggling Ole Miss team seriously.
However, the first half of basketball had Aggie fans worried of a possible repeat of 2016 at The Pavilion.
Eight first quarter turnovers for Texas A&M had them down 17-14 heading into the second quarter. Combine this with Ole Miss hitting three of their first five attempts from distance and it looked like trouble for the Aggies early. If it wasn’t for the impressive start from Ciera Johnson, nine points on four of five shooting, Texas A&M would have had a much larger early deficit.
Ole Miss carried a three-point lead into halftime, but the second quarter showed glimpses of what would end up helping the Aggies pull ahead in the second half: The free throw line.
Texas A&M went 10-10 from the foul line in the second period of play, including 7-7 from Chennedy Carter.
Coach Gary Blair made a comment following the win over Vanderbilt that heavily applies to this Aggie win over Ole Miss.
“When things are not going well, get to the free throw line.”
Chennedy Carter made a living off this mentality, finishing the game 14-17 from the free throw line, a huge chunk of her 28 total points. Ole Miss, as a team, was 8-15 from the line.
Free throw shooting was important for the Ags to maintain consistent scoring because it was not their night shooting the triple, finishing 1-9 from three-point land. The Aggies combatted the struggle from deep by sinking 23 of their 27 free throw attempts, an 85 percent clip.
Heading out of the locker room following the intermission, both teams seemed to have swapped jerseys. Ole Miss turned the ball over nine times, which allowed A&M to take control of the game. The Ags created pressure with their full court press and used a 9-0 run in the middle of the quarter to swing the momentum to the maroon and white.
Besides Chennedy Carter’s impressive performance, Kayla Wells also came alive, scoring 14 in the second half. It was important for Wells and Carter to get going because after Ciera Johnson’s hot first quarter start, she cooled down to the tune of just four points the rest of the game.
The Aggies extended a nine-point lead after three quarters to 12, using a hot fourth quarter start by Chennedy Carter as the final momentum swing needed to close out the game.
Next for the Aggies is a trip to Missouri before returning home for three home games, including a showdown against sixth ranked Mississippi State on February 17th at 1 pm.
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