Bowles goes off as A&M eliminates Vanderbilt from SEC Tournament

Press conference video courtesy of the Southeastern Conference.

Becoming consistent. Becoming resilient. Becoming revengeful.

In the opening game of the SEC Tournament, 13-seed Texas A&M (8-19) defeated 12-seed Vanderbilt (12-19), 77-70, on Wednesday in Greenville, SC, as the Aggies avenged a loss in Nashville earlier this season.

“Our motto for the year is ‘Becoming,’ and part of our becoming was becoming consistent in how we showed up every single day,” A&M head coach Joni Taylor said. “As the season has gone on, we’ve become more consistent with putting together a full practice, putting together a full game.”

After suffering through a rocky regular season marred by injuries, the Maroon & White must win the SEC Tournament to make the Big Dance. That postseason dream lives to see Thursday when the Aggies will meet 5-seed Mississippi State at approximately 1:30 p.m. CT.

SEC All-Freshman selection Sydney Bowles led all scorers with a career-high 22 on 8-of-17 from the field and 6-of-12 from 3-point range.

“The continued trust that my teammates and coaches have had in me has been really great, and it just kind of shined today,” Bowles said. “It was just really the trust and my teammates finding me in open spots and making the extra pass that really allowed for me to have that type of game tonight.

“I’m just really appreciative of them and how they’ve supported me throughout the whole season, not just today.”

Jada Malone, Sahara Jones and Aaliayh Patty had 12 each. Patty added 11 boards to complete the double-double.

“It means a lot to be able to go out there and do what I needed to do for the team, for the win and for Joni,” Patty said. “It just means a lot to be able to have that impact on the game tonight. I’m grateful to be able to do that and be put in positions where I can be effective on the floor.”

For the Commodores, Sacha Washington had 17, and Ciaja Harbison had 16.

The path to victory provided even more teaching lessons in a season full of them.

“The entire season, we’ve been really trying to focus on coming out and just making an impact in the beginning and not waiting until the third and fourth quarter to finally go on a run,” Patty said. “That’s something that just us as teammates in the warmup were talking about so heavily.”

A&M’s impact was felt early and often. An 8-0 run in the second gave them a 13-point edge. They led by seven at the break. After 30 minutes, they led 61-47.

The gap reached 17 in the final frame, but Vanderbilt refused to go quietly.

“We knew, no matter if we got a lead or were down, they were going to keep competing and playing hard. It’s what they do,” Taylor said of Vanderbilt’s comeback attempt. “We knew the fourth quarter was going to be really, really tough, and they weren’t going to just give it to us. We had some growing pains there.”

The Commodores’ full-court press caused fits as the Aggies turned it over eight times in the final 6:09, including a span of five straight giveaways.

Ethan Mito/Texas A&M Athletics

A freshman from Lithonia, GA, Bowles’ previous career-high was 16 points at Mississippi State on Feb. 12.

Garraud's 3-pointer with 2:25 to play capped off a 14-0 Vanderbilt run and cut A&M’s lead to one possession, 69-66.

However, Bowles drilled her career-best sixth 3-pointer of the game to stop the bleeding. After a Sacha Washington jumper, Bowles hit a layup to make it 74-68.

“We’ve just been putting in the work,” Bowles said. “It all leads back to trust. Trusting each other. Trust that our coaches have in us. The shots were falling. Even when the shots aren’t falling, we have trust in each other, but I think it was just one of those games.”

The fourth quarter was the only frame in which Vanderbilt outscored (or outplayed) A&M. Even still, the Aggies finished with the edge in points off turnovers (22-16), rebounds (34-26) and points in the paint (38-26).

“We shared the basketball really well,” Taylor said. “We really saw the ‘one more’ today, the extra pass, and I think that was part of it. We’ve just been talking about taking our shots in rhythm. I think today that really showed.”

Simply put, A&M was the better team for 34 minutes of play, but even after the horrific, mistake-laden six-minute stretch to finish the game, they still hung on.

“We’re continuing to grow up,” Taylor said. “We still have a lot of growth to do, but today, we were clicking on all cylinders offensively.”

Becoming, indeed.