Clutch Coulibaly's 12 final-quarter points leads A&M to victory, 68-63
Clutch Coulibaly.
In close-call contests, teams often look to their best players to provide the spark needed down the stretch.
Down 58-50 with 4:14 to go, Aicha Coulibaly spearheaded A&M's fourth-quarter comeback, scoring 12 points in the final quarter to push the Aggies (9-8, 2-3) past Georgia (9-10, 1-4), 68-63.
Tied after the first, second and third quarters, the final frame decided Thursday’s outcome at Reed Arena.
"If you look at our stats and Georgia's stats, we are almost identical in every category," A&M head coach Joni Taylor said. "This whole week, we have talked about, 'What's the separator? What's the separator?"'
Answer: Coulibaly.
The SEC foes were tied 12 times, and the game saw 10 lead changes before A&M's decisive 18-5 run.
"We didn't let the score define what we do," Coulibaly said. "We just try to get 'kills' every time, three stops in a row. That's what we did at the end, and they kept turning the ball over. We just pressured the ball more."
Georgia committed seven turnovers in the fourth, which allowed Coulibaly and A&M to capitalize.
Tied 60-60 with 43.3 seconds left, Coulibaly's conventional 3-point play caused Reed Arena to erupt and shift the momentum in favor of A&M.
On the following play, the redshirt senior grabbed ahold of Georgia’s inbounds pass, taking it right to the hoop to increase the lead to four. After a Lady Bulldog 3-pointer, Coulibaly was fouled and sunk both shots at the charity stripe to secure the win.
"For AC, she knows, every single night, the game will be to stop her first," Taylor said. "Our message to her has been to continue to find a way to affect the game and stay in it.
"I thought she was tremendous. This is probably her best game in terms of her response."
Alongside Coulibaly, Solè Williams and Amirah Abdur-Rahim helped pace A&M's effective shooting night with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
"Shootaround and making sure I got up extra shots," Williams credited her night to. "Making sure I get my rhythm back and give myself grace. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make shots. When I just be chill and let the game come to me, it all falls."
Averaging just 3.7 made 3-pointers per game, A&M connected on seven to fuel their offensive efforts early on, two of which came from Taliyah Parker in the first. From there, the Ags and Dawgs traded punches throughout.
In their last three SEC losses, the Aggies have found themselves in holes too deep to climb out of.
Down 22 against Tennessee, the Aggies' late push fell short. At Oklahoma, the Maroon & White outscored the Sooners in the second half, but the gap was too wide.
Despite finishing with four players in double figures, Georgia failed to find an answer for A&M's fighting fourth.
Now above water at 9-8 overall, the feel-good win against Taylor's former program must propel the Aggies to remain afloat. The Aggies have a week off before back-to-back matchups vs. top-15 Kentucky and LSU.
"It was big for us," Williams said. "With us losing our last couple of games, we needed this. Joni was stressing it before we went out there to warm up that we needed this win."