Streak extends to seven as Texas A&M dominates Robert Morris, 67-36

A year ago, nine wins was a complete season for Joni Taylor’s Aggies.

A year later, the Aggies tallied their ninth win in just their 10th game.

The growth speaks volumes, but what changed in a year?

Returners are a year older. Three key transfers have been highly productive. It’s Taylor’s second year in Aggieland. Multiple complete team efforts have propelled the Aggies to 9-1.

The victories keep on coming, too. On Saturday, Texas A&M earned its seventh straight win with a 67-36 beatdown of Robert Morris.

Highlighting the day was Auburn transfer Aicha Coulibaly, who provided a complete game in all phases, finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds, two assists and three steals.

Yet, don’t let Coulibaly’s plethora of stats hide that Arizona transfer Lauren Ware recorded her sixth double-double of the season, with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The two have been highly productive throughout the winning streak, helping contribute to a 30-point margin of victory during the seven-game stretch.

“The thing that is so neat about both of those young ladies is they can fill up a stat sheet in so many other ways besides scoring,” Taylor said. “When they do all those things and have a great night offensively as well, you are happy for them.”

Early, the Aggies proved more physical down low and ultimately outrebounded the Colonials, 53-26. Ware continued her dominant ways with a collection of buckets in the paint, finishing the first half with nine points.

Although not a flawless shooting game, the Aggies found a way to get it done. A focus on getting the ball in the paint was executed exceptionally well, scoring 42 down low to Robert Morris’ 10.

Despite shooting 25 percent from behind the arc as a team, Endyia Rogers found a way to be productive, sinking two of her five 3-pointers and contributing eight points toward the victory.

Defensively, A&M ramped it up in the second and third quarters, holding the Colonials to just seven and six points in those frames.

Additionally, A&M held Robert Morris to just 36 points, the third time this season they have held an opponent to under 40.

Although choppy offensively, the old adage still remains true: A win is a win. 

And A&M now has nine of them despite it still being December. A statistical representation of growth from a season ago.

“We are helping (Taylor) build this program up to where it was before. We have to keep it up,” Coulibaly said. “Just do what we do best and win games.”

As Saturday’s meeting was the Aggies’ third game in six days, A&M will receive a bit of a break before continuing their December stretch at Reed Arena with a Dec. 18 matchup with Mississippi Valley State at 7 p.m.