Coulibaly's career-high 32 not enough to knock off top-ranked Gamecocks
Tough.
That is the perfect word to describe not only Texas A&M's showing in the 2024 SEC Tournament quarterfinals against top-ranked South Carolina but the entirety of the Aggies' season.
The year-two mantra Joni Taylor established for her team preseason has taken on multiple meanings.
Two, if you will.
The first meaning should draw attention to A&M's 16th-ranked strength of schedule, playing in a league that sent half of its teams to the NCAA Tournament last year. The Aggies also faced the nation’s best team twice—once in the regular season and again in the conference tournament.
The second relates to the Aggies' fight while down their starting point guard in six games and still managing to finish .500 in the conference.
That same toughness was seen in A&M’s 79-68 loss in Greenville on Thursday.
A season that was simply tough brought on the country's toughest opponent, and in the 2024 SEC Tournament quarterfinals, A&M was outmatched by top-seeded South Carolina, the projected No. 1 overall seed in the Big Dance.
Yet, A&M refused to go quietly in another exhibition of toughness.
“I am extremely proud of how our team and how they fought today,” Taylor said. “Obviously, the outcome was not what we wanted, but I thought we competed the entire time.”
Aicha Coulibaly led the way for the Aggies, scoring a career-high 32 points in A&M's promising showing.
”We had to fight for 40 minutes. We stayed composed and did what we do well,” Coulibaly said.
The top-ranked Gamecocks struggled to slow Coulibaly down after halftime, but prior to that, Dawn Staley’s squad slowed themselves in the first quarter.
Ten turnovers subdued South Carolina’s 43 percent clip from the field, as A&M used a pair of crucial 3-pointers to come within three to end the first.
The Gamecocks only dominating stint came in the second, as a 17-5 run silenced the Aggies with Tessa Johnson pouring in seven in the frame.
Yet, the Aggies did manage to take the lead earlier in that same quarter.
”We know what we are capable of,” Coulibaly said. “We did not come to lose. We came to fight to win a ballgame.”
Down 33-22 at halftime, A&M remained in a toe-to-toe battle but had to adjust its gameplan with Janiah Barker in foul trouble.
Kamilla Cardoso took advantage of Barker's absence in the paint, driving downhill and completing a pair of traditional 3-point plays in the third. She finished with 17.
Then Coulibaly emerged with a run of her own to bring the deficit down to nine.
Eight unanswered points from South Carolina in the fourth is what ultimately caused the Aggies’ demise and allowed the Gamecocks to advance.
Now, a loss to the best team in the nation should not be a detrimental hit to A&M's resume. In fact, it will be one of the more overlooked blemishes since the Gamecocks are 30-0.
However, the question will be whether A&M's full body of work is enough.
When the NCAA Tournament selection committee looks at A&M, the glaring concern will be its stretch losing five of six to end conference play. In those five, the Aggies lost by an average of 11.8 points.
In that same stretch, A&M was without starting point guard Endyia Rogers, who averages 12.8 points a game.
With Rogers healthy, that production has returned and was clearly seen in the Maroon & White's two games in Greenville.
“I think it shows what our team is capable of with a full roster,” Taylor said. “I think we are an NCAA Tournament team. We came here and took care of business yesterday and competed really well with the No. 1 team in the country.”
If history repeats itself and seven SEC teams are in, Taylor's Aggies would be the seventh.
It could be described as a "tough" decision for the committee.
But the double-meaning adjective should have turned into one of simplicity after A&M's showing in the SEC Tournament, hanging with the undefeated and consensus No. 1 team in the nation.