22 hours ago
Texas A&M Athletics
GREENVILLE, SC – A career-high 22 points, including a pair of late buckets, by rookie Sydney Bowles led Texas A&M to a 77-70 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores in the first round of Wednesday’s SEC tournament inside the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
Bowles hit 8 of 17 from the field, including a career-high six 3-point field goals. Her biggest basket came with just under two minutes left in the game when she hit a 3-pointer to stop a 14-0 run that had cut A&M’s comfortable lead to a precarious 69-66. .
Bowles also made a layup with 1:21 left to keep the Aggies ahead by six points. The All-SEC Freshman Team selection scored 11 of their points in the fourth quarter, going 4 of 6 from the field, including 3 of 5 from long range.
Three other Aggies recorded 12 points, including Sahara Jones, Jada Malone and Aaliah Patty. Jones had two key free throws in the closing seconds. Malone’s dozen points was a career high as she went 6 of 7 from the field. Patty recorded a double-double, leading the team with 11 points and five assists.
The Aggies opened up a 7-2 lead at 6:52 of the first quarter. The teams swung for the next five minutes with three lead changes and two draws. Texas A&M carried a 21-16 advantage into the first break with Jones hitting a jumper at 1:11 and Tineya Hylton sinking a 3-pointer with 35 seconds remaining in the period.
The Maroon & White stretched the margin into double digits early in the second stanza with a 10-2 run in the opening two minutes, inflating A&M’s cushion to 31-18. Vanderbilt used an 11-2 run to close the deficit to 35-31 at 1:46.
Jones stemmed the tide with a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from late Janiah Barker put the Aggies ahead 40-33 at intermission.
The trio of Bowles, Jones and Malone had eight points apiece in the first half. Patty had six rebounds and the Maroon & White had 10 assists of their 15 buckets, paced by McKinzie Green with three.
After Vanderbilt cut the deficit to 42-38 at 8:03 of the third quarter, Malone went 8-0 with a layup and a jumper in the paint as A&M led 50-38 at halftime. course of the period.
The ‘Dores were unable to reduce the deficit to single digits again in the third quarter and two layups from Patty put A&M ahead 61-47 at the final break. Bowles’ 3-pointers at 9:18 a.m. and 7:55 a.m. gave the Maroon & White their biggest lead of the game at 17 points before the flurry of Commodore baskets.
POST-MATCH NOTES
- Texas A&M improved to 8-19 on the season. The Aggies’ overall record against Vanderbilt rises to 10-6 and the Maroon & White avenged their 88-79 regular season loss on Jan. 29.
- Texas A&M improved to 12-9 in the SEC tournament.
- Joni Taylor’s career record jumps to 148-94 all-time and 8-19 in his first season with the Aggies. Coach Taylor improved to 6-7 at the SEC tournament, including 1-0 at Texas A&M.
- The Aggies had a 34-26 rebound advantage, including 8-6 offensive rebounds and 26-20 defensive rebounds.
- The Maroon & White had 20+ assists in a game for the first time since Feb. 10, 2022 against Vanderbilt.
- Texas A&M had a 38-26 advantage in second-chance points, including 20-10 in the second half.
- The Aggies hit 51.7% (30 of 58) from the field, their third-best shooting effort of the season, including 55.6% (15 of 27) in the second half.
- Texas A&M used a starting lineup of Sydney Bowles, Kay Kay Green, Sahara Jones, Jada Malone and Aaliyah Patty for the fourth time this season (2-2).
- Bowles had a career-high six 3-point field goals and became the first Aggie to hit six or more triples since Jordan Nixon hit six against Northwestern (Nov. 27).
- Sahara Jones recorded 12 points, four rebounds, one block and one assist. Recorded double figures in the scoring column for the 11th time this season and the 13th time in his career.
- Malone tied a career high with 12 points, hitting 6 of 7 from the field. Tied a career high with 2 blocks and added three rebounds and an assist. She posted double digits in the scoring column for the fifth time this season.
- Patty recorded her fourth double-double of the season and 15th of her career with 12 points and 11 rebounds. She posted double digits in the scoring column for the 10th time this season and the 49th time in her career. \
- Patty recorded a double-digit rebound for the ninth time this season and the 22nd time in her career, while leading the team to rebounds for the 16th time this season and the 44th time in her career. She led the team in assists for the fifth time this season and the seventh time in her career.
FOLLOWING
The Aggies will face No. 5 seeded Mississippi State in the second round on Thursday. Play begins 25 minutes after the 11 a.m. contest between Arkansas and Missouri. Vanderbilt ends his season with a 12-19 overall record after finishing 3-13 in the SEC.