Late run sends Crimson Tide past Aggies in regular-season finale, 78-71
That's a wrap on Joni Taylor's second regular season in Aggieland.
A finish that was less than ideal.
After fighting their way back from a 16-point deficit and taking the lead, Texas A&M dropped their regular-season finale 78-71 to Alabama on Sunday afternoon at Reed Arena.
Down 43-31 at the half, the Aggies used a fiery second half to force a close one late. Outscoring the Crimson Tide 16-12 in the third, the final frame was the deciding factor.
A 16-4 run, powered by Janiah Barker, to open the last quarter allowed the Aggies to take the lead but resulted in a back-and-forth stretch in the following minutes.
Aicha Coulibaly led the last-minute charge for the Aggies posting 19 points, but it wasn't Taylor's squad nor one of Taylor's players that took over.
It was her former guard before taking over at Texas A&M.
The Georgia transfer Sarah Ashlee Barker scored 10 in the last frame on the way to a 29-point performance, thwarting the Aggies' comeback effort.
"(She is) a tough matchup," Taylor said. "Scores at all three levels. We let her get to her spots.
"I thought we had shots. We have to make them, at that point."
It was A&M's first quarter that initially slowed down the Crimson Tide, as Alabama held a one-point advantage. Yet, a 17-2 run blistered the Aggies as they went cold from the field, and the home squad's 10-point second quarter was the outlier.
"As the season shows, we have been a third-quarter or second-half team," Sydney Bowles said. "We are a second-half team, but we need to be that the entire game."
In addition to the woeful second frame, A&M struggled from the free-throw line, converting on just five of nine without even making a trip to the charity stripe in the first half.
"We did not get to the free-throw line,” Taylor said. “That's a lack of aggression on our part."
A&M also failed to defend Alabama beyond the arc as the Crimson Tide cashed seven 3-pointers.
"That is something we have to get corrected," Taylor said. "We can't give a team what they want, and they want to shoot threes and get to the line in transition.”
The last-minute fallout completed the late-season falloff, as A&M has now only won one of their last six games.
Before Sunday's game, A&M was projected as the very first team out of March Madness, according to Charlie Creme's Bracketology.
However, the loss is not detrimental to their postseason hopes as the Crimson Tide are projected to be a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
However, Taylor's Aggies must turn their attention to the SEC Tournament, where they will avoid playing on Wednesday, which was a goal of theirs.
"One of our goals was to not play on Wednesday, and it looks like that is going to happen," Taylor said. "But we have to close games out."
A&M will take on Mississippi State (21-10, 8-8 SEC) at 11 a.m. on Thursday in the second round of the SEC Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina.
Now, the Aggies will heavily lean on a win or two in Greenville to boost them to the Big Dance.