WBB: Aggies tie three-point record, defeat Missouri 77-58

According to Merriam-Webster, momentum is defined as "the strength or force gained by motion or a series of events." To say that the Texas A&M women's basketball team, winners of four straight and eight of their last nine, has momentum would be an understatement.

On Sunday, the No. 16 Aggies dispatched the visiting Missouri Tigers 77-58 in a game that acted as a microcosm of the 2012-2013 athletic year for the SEC-newcomers. In addition to the dismantling of the Missouri women's basketball team, A&M has also defeated the Tigers in soccer, volleyball and football during their inaugural SEC campaign.

With the victory, the Aggies improve to 16-5 overall and 6-1 in the SEC, while Missouri falls to 13-8 on the year and 2-5 in conference play.

"Our kids played very well," said A&M head coach Gary Blair. "That's about as well as we could shoot the ball in the first half. I thought we played extremely well in the first half."

Adrienne Pratcher and Peyton Little scored a combined 35 points and hit on 11-of-17 three-point attempts to lead the Aggies in the victory.

"The three-point shooting was good tonight," said Pratcher. "Once we got going with the threes, I think we were looking for them more in our offensive set. We knew they were going to play zone and sink in on our post players."

That Tiger zone aimed to limit the production of A&M center Kelsey Bone, however, the Aggies shot 58% (18-of-31) from the field in the first half and took a 48-20 lead to the locker room, dashing the hopes of the Tigers from the get-go.

"Bone is such a special player and she was obviously attracting a lot of our attention," said Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton. "The game plan was to not give up so many threes. We knew they had a couple of kids that shot the three-ball extremely well, and I felt like it was more a breakdown in communication and our rotation [that led to open three-point attempts]."

The start second half saw Blair go to his bench in order to get his reserves valuable conference playing time. However, Missouri cut the A&M lead to 15 with 11:29 remaining, forcing Blair to revert to his starting five players.

"We were trying to play some kids with some combinations," said Blair. "We were trying to play them with some starters instead of just playing them with all the kids just off the bench. Sometimes it's not us, sometimes it's what Missouri is doing. Missouri played very well in the second half, give them a lot of credit.

"In the second half, it wasn't pretty. But we'll live with that. I got a lot of kids some playing time that they deserve. They're on scholarship and who cares if it's a 20-point game or an 18-point ball game."

With 2:51 remaining, Pratcher connected from behind the arc for A&M's 12th three-pointer. That basket tied the all-time A&M record and broke the Reed Arena record for three-pointers by one team in a game.

"I used to not be much of a shooter," Pratcher exclaimed. "But now, I think it's within the offense and I know that in order to knock down the shot during a game I have to work on it in practice."

While Sunday's performance will be hard to beat, Pratcher has four more days of practice to improve her shot even more before the Aggies take on the Vanderbilt Commodores (13-6, 3-3) Thursday evening at Reed Arena.