WBB: Second half dominance as Ags BTHO USC

Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious Women’s Bouncy Ball team who travelled far and wide before they sacked the famous team of Troy…

The Aggies returned from Maui after their upset win against Oregon State and learned that guard Aaliyah Wilson was lost for the season with an ACL and meniscus injury. Having played 9 games, Wilson won’t be eligible for a medical redshirt but it’s hoped she will be back next season. With only a few days to recover from the big win and long flight, the Ags hosted the USC Trojans as the opener of the last doubleheader with the men.

The win over Oregon State got A&M back in the top 25 in both polls, while the Trojans entered the coaches poll at #25 with an unblemished record before arriving in Reed Arena.

With Wilson out, Coach Blair went with the lineup used against the Beavers. Sham Washington got the start at PG with Carter at the 2. Kayla Wells, N’dea Jones, and Ciera Johnson made up the front line. USC countered with the Moore sisters, Mazyck, Tapley, and Overbeck. Both teams started out playing ugly basketball. USC got a turnover fast break on the opening possession. After Carter tied it with a jumper at the 8:03 mark, Minyon Moore got a fastbreak bucket to give USC a 4-2 lead at 7:06. The neither team scored until 3:07 when Carter made a pair of FTs to tie it at 4-4. Thanks to fouls and FTs, A&M’s second FG of the game cut the USC lead to 11-9 with under a minute to go in the first. By the end of the quarter it was 13-11 USC.

It looked like the Ags had adjusted in the second quarter and A&M pulled to a 28-21 lead with 2:04 left in the first half. USC was looking out of sorts, was fouling a lot, and was on the ropes. But A&M got sloppy and USC went on an 11-0 run to end the half with a 32-28 lead. The A&M zone wasn’t closing out the baseline and USC scored inside on several baskets that were too easy. Kayla Wells led the team with 10 points while Carter had 7 on 2-7 shooting. Jones already had 6 rebounds but was 0-4 on FG and sat a lot with 2 fouls.

To open the second half, A&M came out and demolished the Trojans like a swarm of Greeks coming out of a wooden horse. Kayla Wells went on a personal 8-4 run to open the quarter and tie the game. After a Carter 3 pointer and putback by Ja’Tavia Tarpley made it 39-38 Ags, a 3 pointer by Wells started a 9-0 run. By the end of the period A&M had outscored USC 24-9.

The 4th quarter saw A&M stretch the lead, and USC never really threatened. I was somewhat surprised at how much Carter played, since she seemed to be limping from the foot injury from the Oregon State game on every dead ball. But when the ball was in play, Chennedy seemed to block out the pain, leading to one insane highlight reel 3 point play.

Final Score: Texas A&M 71, USC 51

Additional Notes

• Wells led the Ags with 26, her second career high in a row.
• Carter, despite being hobbled, had 23. I think the foot was part of the reason she was only 5-14 for FG. She was 12-13 from the FT line and had a double-double with 11 rebounds. So USC held her to half of her point total from last year.
• N’dea Jones followed her 20 rebound performance vs Oregon State with 17 boards. N’dea also blocked 3 shots.
• Sham Washington had 6 assists and 4 turnovers.
• USC was led by Desiree Caldwell off the bench with 10. Minyon Moore had 10 assists, which is impressive given that USC only had 19 FGs.
• Overall, the Ags won the rebounding by 46-35. A&M had a big advantage at the FT line, going 22-31 (Carter was 12-13).

Up Next

• Prairie View Panthers
• Friday Dec 21, 2018 6:30PM
• Reed Arena
• Holiday Hoops discount tickets
• Streaming on SECN+ Radio: 1150AM/102.7FM

Prairie View is 3-6 on the year and is on a 4 game losing streak playing larger schools on the road. They lost to Iowa State in Ames on Wed night 94-46 with a pretty horrifying box score. The leading scorer among the starters had 4 points. The Cyclones led 50-10 at halftime. Senior Artavia Ford came off the bench to ultimately get 22 points and 7 rebounds against the Iowa state bench.

The Panthers averages are not meaningful due to a mix of massive losses to big schools and a pair of wins against Jarvis Christian and Arlington Baptist by 117-32 and 105-31.