COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Southeastern Conference leader Texas A&M displayed its size, speed, and defensive prowess in the Reed Arena on Sunday afternoon.
After competing for a half, the Mississippi State women’s basketball team struggled in the second half. No. 25 Texas A&M opened the second half with a 10-0 run and cruised to its eighth-straight victory in a 73-35 decision.
Last season, Texas A&M defeated MSU 81-33 in Starkville. The 33 points was one more than the Bulldogs’ all-time program record low for a game.
With the win, Texas A&M improved to 15-4 and 5-0 in league play. MSU fell to 14-5 and 1-4.
“Certainly disappointed, it is hard to believe we could play as well against Tennessee (in a 67-63 loss Thursday night),” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “Sometimes, when you have the youth, inexperience and immaturity that we have, those things show up. All three things reared their ugly heads today against a really good Texas A&M basketball team today.”
The game marked the return of Schaefer, MSU associate head coach Johnnie Harris, assistant coach Aqua Franklin, director of basketball operations Maryann Baker, and video coordinator Skylar Collins. to Texas Schaefer was a longtime assistant/associate head coach at MSU, while Harris was an assistant coach and Franklin, Baker, and Collins played for the Aggies. Dating back to Schaefer’s days as coach at Sam Houston State, Texas A&M coach Gary Blair is 9-0 against his long-time friend, and 2-0 against him at MSU.
“There’s no way I thought the game would finish with this type of score,” Blair said. “I was totally frustrated in the first half, and I’m sure Vic was too, because we were not running our offense correctly. Particularly, we had some stuff that we knew would work, and we got in a hurry and didn’t execute it early. We can’t afford to do that when you’re on the road. We were just playing good defense, making a miss, and then we got a couple run-outs. At halftime, we coached them like we were 13 points down, and I think they responded.”
In the opening half, MSU shot 21.2 percent from the field but only trailed 33-20 at halftime.
Texas A&M created separation by scoring the first 10 points of the second half. It held MSU to five field goals in the half and no 3-pointers for the game.
The Aggies were credited with 13 blocked shots.
“We got the ball inside early and often,” Schaefer said. “I thought we got good shots. We just couldn’t make shots. I am disappointed, but there is a bigger picture than one game today.”
MSU was 12 of 59 from the field (20.3 percent), 0 of 5 from 3-point range, and 11 of 18 from the free throw line (61.1). The Aggies were 27 of 51 from the field (52.9), 1 of 6 from 3-point range (16.7), and 18 of 28 from the foul line (64.3).
Texas A&M held a 51-29 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had nine assists and 15 turnovers, while the Aggies had 18 assists and 15 turnovers.
“We were well prepared,” said Courtney Walker, who had 16 points for Texas A&M. “We had some really long practices the past few days based on the fact that they know all of our plays. We executed more and got to the hole by being aggressive.”
MSU will play at 6 p.m. Thursday at Ole Miss.
May led MSU with eight points, while Breanna Richardson had a team-high seven rebounds.
Courtney Williams added 15 points, while Achiri Ade had 14 for Texas A&M. Karla Gilbert had a game-high 10 rebounds.
At 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, MSU will host its second January luncheon in the Mize Pavilion. Cost is $12 per person and fans can RSVP by calling 662-325-0198 or emailing [email protected].
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