Senior Day suffocation of Arkansas keeps A&M's postseason push alive
Game #23: Texas A&M 78, Arkansas 57
Records: Texas A&M (12-11, 5-9), Arkansas (11-18, 0-14)
Box Score
Officially above water.
After spending January drowning in an SEC downpour, Texas A&M has ascended above the water line.
A 78-57 win over Arkansas moves the Aggies above .500 on the season (12-11, 5-9 SEC), and they are still pushing for more basketball in March.
"I thought that they were just extremely locked in and followed the game plan," Texas A&M head coach Joni Taylor said. "We were continuing to share the basketball, we're continuing to defend at a high level.
"So a lot of really good things today."
Three straight victories have flipped the forecast. The Aggies buried Auburn under a downpour of 3-pointers. Taylor earned a shower via Gatorade bottles after taking down No. 21 Tennessee on the road.
Then the waterworks came on a sentimental Senior Day.
"With the big senior night, there was obviously a lot of emotion," Lauren Ware said. "I think most of the day, all of us were crying. Before the game, just a lot of feels, but we knew what this game meant to us, not just for our seniors and our team, but also for our trajectory for the future."
"To have this group for your senior year and your last group, like, it's hard to come by," Jordan Webster followed that up. "For this to be one of our last home games, it's just very emotional."
Highlighted by double-double machine Ny'Ceara Pryor, Taylor's senior group quickly wiped away the pregame tears and helped the Aggies coast to a 21-point victory at Reed Arena.
Pryor recorded 16 points and 12 assists in the winning effort, becoming the first SEC player to post three straight points-assists double-doubles in 17 years.
"She is someone who has as big of an influence off the floor as she does on the floor," Taylor said of Pryor. "Her work on the floor speaks for itself. and she leads us every single day."
The remaining seniors — Webster, Lemyah Hylton and Ware — combined for 30, but their impact goes beyond Sunday's win.
"They've all done this before, but considering the season we've had, they're the ones that kept us together in January, and they followed our lead, and the team followed their lead," Taylor said.
Without their contributions, A&M's aspirations of postseason basketball would have been washed away weeks ago. Needing to continue their hot streak, the Maroon & White never trailed in the contest.
Junior Fatmata Janneh scored the game's first five points and went on to register an 11-point, 13-rebound game. After a low-scoring affair in the first quarter, the Aggies sped away and never looked back.
Searching for their first conference win, Arkansas' Talyeh Jones gave her best effort with 21 points. Yet, the Razorbacks couldn't settle in, and A&M kept the current flowing its way.
"I think it was just a matter of time," Ware said. "I think we had all the information that we needed. It was just a matter of us doing it and executing it, and I think we're also just really gelling together."
With two regular-season games remaining, the Aggies can either sink or splash their way into the postseason picture.
A Quadrant 2 opportunity is next as Mississippi State (18-10, 5-9) travels to College Station for the final home game of the season on Thursday, Feb. 26.
