After Thursday’s OT win against Tech, the coaches praised the Ags for taking care of the ball. On Sunday the team reminded the staff why coaching is a tough profession. In 45 minutes of play against the Lady Raiders, A&M committed a total of 8 turnovers. Three days later, the Ags matched that in the first quarter. Fortunately for A&M, the smaller LadyJacks of Steven F. Austin were having their own problems on offense; the score was tied at 4 with just under 3 minutes left in the 1st quarter, which ended with Anriel Howard hitting a buzzer beating layup to give A&M a 9-7 lead.

Coach Blair went to one of his small lineups to start the second quarter. This period was not quite as bad as the first, but it was close. The Ags led 22-19 going into the intermission. The D held SFA to just 29.2% shooting, but the home team was only good for 32% with 13 turnovers. Anriel accounted for a large part of the lead by grabbing 11 rebounds in the first half and leading all scorers with 8 points. Coming off her first 30 point game on Thursday, Danni Williams only scored 3 points in the first half, on 1-4 from the field and 1-2 from the FT line.

The halftime discussion must have been energetic, and the Ags started the 3rd quarter with more energy and by taking advantage of superior size inside. A&M stretched the lead to double digits by mid-quarter as Danni started to find her jump shot. The Aggies ended up shooting 50% for the second half and the game was never in doubt after that run after the break. But the team still added 9 turnovers after the intermission. What was frustrating for the crowd and the coaches was that for the most part, while these were forced errors, SFA’s pressure D should not have been that intimidating. It seemed like the Ags were telegraphing passes and not running the press break cleanly.

After her rough first half, Danni scored 17 in the second half on 8/13 shooting (1/2 from 3). She scored a couple of baskets on inbounds plays that were run for her to get a mid-range jumper after cutting across the lane. Jasmine Lumpkin had another strong game overall, scoring 14, grabbing 8 rebounds, and blocking 5 shots. Khaalia had another double double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. It was not a great day statistically for Curtyce. She finished with 7 assists and 5 turnovers and only scored 4. After almost getting a double double in the first half, Anriel fouled out without scoring in the second half. She finished with 8 points and 15 rebounds. The Ags nearly doubled up the LadyJacks in rebounding, 49-25.

SFA was led by Taylor Ross with 17 points. The visitors only shot 32.7% overall.

Up Next

• Arkansas Little Rock Trojans
• Wed Nov 23, 2016 6:30 PM CST
• Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock, AR
• TV: none Radio 1150AM/102.5FM

The Ags go to Little Rock for their first road game of the young season. Aggie fans still have bad memories of UALR knocking us out of the NCAA tourney a couple of seasons ago in Tempe. The Ags got revenge at Reed last season, beating the Trojans by 30. This year’s edition of the UALR WBB has started 1-3 with a home win against North Texas followed by three road losses against Green Bay, Oklahoma, and Fordham. All except the OU game were part of the preseason women’s NIT.

A&M returns to Reed to play Abilene Christian at 6PM on Saturday after Turkey Day.