WBB: Ags school TCU 71-58

The Women’s Bouncy Ball team had their fifth annual Elementary School Game on Wednesday morning. I missed most of the first quarter but caught up watching the replay Wed night on streaming. By the time I got to my seat in Reed I had missed a pretty nice start where the Ags jumped out to an early 6-2 lead. TCU went on a 12-3 run after that and A&M was stagnant. 14-9 after 1.

The Ags opened the second quarter with a shot clock violation. Aggies were fumbling the ball on offense and giving up inside position. Fortunately, TCU missed their share of point blank shots. Still, TCU got the lead to 10 and stretched it to 13 before a timeout. At that point TCU was outrebounding the Ags 23-11. Nobody was boxing out.

After the timeout the Ags went on a run to cut the lead. During that run Danni Williams got her first FG in more than 5 quarters. The teams traded scores as the half ended with the Ags down 32-24.

“I think the whole team was playing like a lull. We gave them plays to run, and we just didn't execute. One thing TCU was doing was making four to five to six passes. What were we doing? Making one to two to three passes. We go over it but we have to share the ball more and reverse the floor. We can't just try to have the first option.”

The Ags were 9 for 31 (29%) at halftime. Carter, Howard and Lumpkin each had 2 fouls.

The Ags got turnovers on TCU’s first two possessions and raised their energy on both ends. The energy started turning into fouls on TCU bigs in the paint and the lead was 3 when TCU coach Reagan Pebley called timeout at 7:28. Khaalia gave the Ags the lead before halfway through the quarter. At that point TCU had not made a fg in the second half. The frogs first fg wa a strong drive by Amy Okonwo to retake the lead before the media timeout. On the inbounds play out of the timeout Danni got free for a reverse layup that turned out to give the Ags the lead.TCU would tie it at 40 Carter answered with a stepback jumper. The Ags kept going inside to Khaalia. A 3 point play off a Carter feed gave Hillsman 13 for the quarter as A&M outscored TCU 25-10 in the 3rd.

Early in the 4th quarter an announcement was made to start preparations to take the kids home. I thought: “Don’t sit down, bus drivers!”

The Ags stretched the lead to 9. Some problems breaking the press gave the Frogs some hope down 6 with 4 minutes left. But Carter ran the clock down and made a great move for a layup. TCU couldn’t convert FTs on the next possession and the Frogs had to foul. Final score 71-58.

Blair sent the team into the stands to sign autographs and saw em off with the kids.

• Chennedy Carter led A&M in scoring with 23 points. She had 5 assists and only 1 turnover. Khaalia Hillsman had 22 points. Anriel Howard had 16 rebounds. After starting slow, Danni Williams ended up with 13 points.
• After shooting 29% in the first half, the Ags shot 50% in the second. They won the boards 26-14 after the break, to edge TCU by 1 for the game. Many statistical categories reflect the difference between the two halves. Points in the paint favored TCU 20-12 in the first half, the Ags took that 24-18 in the second. Second chance points were 8-4 TCU in the first, and 7-2 A&M in the second.
• TCU was led by Amy Okonwo's 19 points off the bench. Jordan Moore had 11.

This games Chennedy Carter highlights:

Carter continues her double figure scoring streak to 9 games. That’s a freshman record for A&M.

Up Next

• Central Arkansas Sugar Bears
• Saturday Dec 9. 2017 1PM CST
• Reed Arena
• Streaming SECN+ Radio 1150AM/102.7FM
• Holiday Hoops cheap tickets

The Ags beat the Sugar Bears to open last season. Central Arkansas then proceeded to go 26-5 last year, winning the Southland tourney and falling to 3 seed Texas in Austin in the NCAA tourney. Starters Maggie Proffitt (22 points vs A&M last year) and UCA returns just 5 players who played last season. But that includes a couple of All-Conference Senior forwards. Likely starters:

• 23 6-0 Sr F Taylor Baudoin has started every game and leads the Sugar Bears in scoring and rebounding with 13.5 ppg and 6.2 rpg. She started last year at Reed.
• 02 5-6 Jr G Kamry Orr has started every game is scoring 12.7 per game.
• 20 6-1 Sr C Kierra Jordan is the third player to start every game. She's scoring 9.7 ppg
• 21 5-6 Sr G Angel Williams also started last year and 5 of 6 games this season.
• 4 5-7 So G Taylor Sells

UCA has a brutal non-conference road schedule, alternating small schools and major powers. They're 4-2 as of this writing with a home game Thurs night vs Central Baptist College. The Ags will be their third road game; the other two were at Baylor and at Tennessee.