WBB: A&M overcomes shooting woes, drops Vanderbilt 60-52

How does the old saying go?

"When all is said and done, no one remembers the score, but rather who comes out on top."

And come out on top they did.

Freshman Courtney Walker scored a career-high 20 points and Kristi Bellock added eight more and nine rebounds to lift the No. 16 Texas A&M women's basketball team to a 60-52, SEC victory over a scrappy Vanderbilt Commodores squad on Thursday evening.

Guard Christina Foggie registered 19 points and forward Tiffany Clarke also had 14 to lead Vanderbilt (14-7, 4-4), which suffered its third straight loss.

"We needed a close ballgame," said A&M head coach Gary Blair. "Every close game we have been in the year, we haven't been able to win. Four of our five losses against top-10 teams all went down to the end, but maybe we got over the hurdle here and learned how to close out a team at the end."

While the Aggies (17-5, 7-1) eventually won the contest, the Commodores played phenomenal defense in the first 20 minutes, limiting A&M to 35% (12-of-34) from the floor. Included in that first half shooting percentage was a 1-of-4 performance and only two points from junior All-American candidate Kelsey Bone.

"Kelsey is definitely our leader, our go-to player," said Bellock. "We kind of feed off her energy. We kind of feel like, if Kelsey doesn't score, we're not doing our job by not getting her the ball. We have to do a better job when we know she is missing her bunny shots to help her out."

Those near misses allowed Vanderbilt to take a 27-24 lead to the locker room at halftime.

With the Commodores up by one and 11:23 left on the clock, Adrienne Pratcher nailed A&M's first three-pointer of the game and ignited a 10-0 run that would give the Aggies a 48-39 lead with 8:45 remaining.

But after five-straight points by Clarke sandwiched between baskets by Foggie, the A&M lead was trimmed to three with 4:48 remaining.

However it wasn't the play of the A&M veterans that calmed the seas when a charging Vanderbilt team was staring them in the face, but rather the freshmen.

The Aggies would rattle off another 10 unanswered points, eight of which from freshmen Peyton Little, Jordan Jones and Walker, to put the game out of reach at 60-47 with 1:47 in the game.

"We wouldn't have won this ballgame had Walker not taken charge," said Blair. "When the shot clock was going down and they were caving in on our post players, I kept telling her to come get the ball. I said put it on the deck and create something, and she did a good job of that."

Up next, A&M travels to Baton Rouge on Monday to take on LSU in the first matchup since A&M pulled long-time tiger assistant Bob Starkey out of the Bayou state.