Hoppie and Wells combine for 38 to lead A&M to a third straight win
With the future of their season hanging in the balance, Texas A&M delivered one of their most complete performances of the season.
Texas A&M (14-9, 4-7) has countered a 1-7 start to Southeastern Conference play with a three-game winning streak following a 76-58 rout of Vanderbilt at Reed Arena on Thursday night.
“I like everything we did tonight to tell you the truth,” A&M head coach Gary Blair said. “I thought we had a pretty complete ballgame.”
After shooting a wretched 32 percent from the field in the first half, the Commodores managed to slice Texas A&M’s advantage to just five points with 7:33 remaining in the final quarter with a 7-0 run.
It didn’t take long for the Aggies to respond.
Just 13 seconds later, Destiny Pitts completed a rare 4-point play to fuel a 9-0 A&M run with Kayla Wells adding a mid-range jumper and a 3-ball to build the lead back to 14.
With their lead re-cushioned, the Aggies hit three treys in the final five minutes to run away with a critical victory.
Despite the Aggies’ struggles throughout league play in the fourth quarter, a focus on execution proved to be the catalyst in A&M’s 23-point closer.
“We needed that 20-point quarter to finish off,” Qadashah Hoppie said. “We knew we needed that to extend the lead and not have those tight, close games like we have been having in the end.
“We just focused in on executing, just executing our offense as much as we can.”
Hoppie and Wells each scored a team-high 19 points. Aaliyah Patty continued to dominate from the inside on both ends with ten points and eight rebounds. Pitts also contributed nine points and eight boards.
While the Maroon & White dominated offensively shooting 53.7 percent from the field (29-of-54) and a perfect 12-of-12 from the free-throw line, tonight’s victory was due in large part to an aggressive defensive performance.
Vanderbilt’s leading scorers Brinae Alexander and Jordan Cambridge were held to a combined 25 points on 8-of-27 shooting. The Commodores never touched the lead either.
“We were really keying in on their scorers. I thought Q [Hoppie] did a really good job on Alexander,” Wells said. “I think we just did a really good job team-wise of guarding them.”
Now with their first win streak since December, the Aggies refuse to approach their five remaining games any differently.
“We got four. That’s all we thought about,” Blair said. “Now we’ll think about that next number in the morning when we get the film and try to find that drive for five.
“Whatever it takes to get to five.”
Texas A&M will return to Reed Arena on Sunday afternoon to host No. 14 LSU.