@Little Rock

While fans in College Station were getting ready for midnight yell, the women traveled to Little Rock (formerly UALR) to face the Trojans and Coach Blair’s old friend Joe Foley. Blair and Foley have been neck and neck on the all-time wins list with Foley up one entering Wednesday’s contest.

I didn't feel like paying for Little Rock All-Access, so I only heard this game on the radio. After a slow offensive start vs SFA, the Ags started off even worse in their first road game. Danni Williams picked up 2 fouls in the first 1:20 and went to the bench for the rest of the quarte. Curtyce Knox scored the only A&M field goal of the opening period after more than 8 minutes had gone by. Remarkably, that tied it at 8. The first half ended with the Trojans up 21-20.

A&M turned it on again in the third quarter, at one point going on a 16-0 run. That allowed the Aggie women to bring home a 55-37 win.

Abilene Christian

The Ags were back in Reed Arena on Saturday night to host the Wildcats of Abilene Christian University. ACU came in at 3-1 with their only loss being to Mizzou, which was ranked to start the season. This time the Ags got off OK on offense, but struggled to defend at the start of the game. ACU didn’t miss from either the field or the FT line until 2:42 in the first quarter with the Ags up 15-12 on a 3 pointer by Danni. It was Williams first make after 5 misses, including her first shot of the game, which was rejected by 5-11 senior Suzzy Dimba. ACU would go on to shoot 60% from the field in the first half. Hillsman was scoring pretty easily on the Wildcats, but had trouble defending an up and under move from 6-1 Junior Sierra Allen, who had 8 first half points in 11 minutes off the bench.

A&M upped the intensity after halftime once again, and held ACU to just 6/23 shooting for the rest of the game. Meanwhile, the Ags shot 50% in the second half, with a lot of nice entries to Hillsman for points in the paint.

Final score: 71-45

Khaalia led all scorers with 20 points. Danni finished with 12, but it took 17 attempts to make 4 FG (she was 3/3 from the FT line). Anriel Howard was a rebounding maniac as usual and got her third double-double with 14 rebounds and 11 points. Curtyce Knox had a great game at the point, getting career highs in assists (12) and steals (7), while only committing one turnover. Off the bench, Taylor Cooper played 27 minutes and had one of her best games as an Ag. She had 5 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals and played with good energy. A&M also got some good minutes from Walnatia Wright, who put in 6 points and got 4 boards in 13 minutes on the floor. When Coach Blair started to clear the bench with about 3.5 minutes left, Jasmine Williams took advantage and got 6 points in just 3 minutes by going aggressively into the paint. Aaliyah Jackson got the most minutes before garbage time of the freshmen, and got on the score sheet with 5 boards and 1 point.

Up Next

• Univ. of Southern California
• 11AM CST Wednesday Nov. 30, 2016
• Reed Arena
• SECN+ streaming; 1150 AM/102.7 FM radio

Yes, it’s elementary school day, when Reed will be filled with screaming kids. This year I probably won’t be able to make it or watch live, as I have daytime conflicts.

USC is 4-1 as I write this, with a Sunday afternoon game vs Long Beach State. The Women of Troy just beat Portland to win the women’s side of the Great Alaska Shootout. They’re going to be bigger and more athletic than our previous opponents, with 6-2 Jr F Kristen Simon leading the team in scoring, rebounding, and minutes. 6-6 Kentucky transfer Ivana Jacubkova started in the post vs Portland, but is only averaging 15.8 minutes/game. Courtney Jaco, Jordan Adams and Ja’Tavia Tapley are the other likely starters, but Minyon Moore and Sadie Edwards get major minutes off the bench.

December with road games at SMU and TCU on the Monday the 5th and Thursday the 8th.