Aggies’ sixth consecutive win is for the kids

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M women’s basketball team cruised to an 83-51 victory over the Lamar Cardinals in front of a raucous crowd of 7,529 Wednesday inside Reed Arena.

Texas A&M (8-1) took advantage of Lamar (4-3) miscues with a 34-10 edge in points off turnovers. The Aggies also outrebounded the Cardinals 45-31 to record their sixth consecutive victory – the largest win streak since the beginning of the 2021-22 campaign.

The crowd was the third-largest for an Aggie Elementary School Day and the 14th-largest crowd for a women’s basketball game at Reed Arena.

For the second time in three games, Texas A&M had five players with double-digits in the scoring column.

Lauren Ware recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Janiah Barker tallied 13 points, eight rebounds, three steals and three assists.

Aicha Coulibaly logged 13 points, four rebounds three steals and two assists. Maliyah Johnson had her first double-digit scoring game with the season with 11 points and led the bench in points. Endyia Rogers logged 10 points, four rebounds and four assists.

The Aggies nabbed five steals in the first five minutes of the game to mount an 11-4 advantage. Texas A&M crashed the boards in the first period with a 12-6 rebounding margin en route to an 18-10 lead at the intermission.

Texas A&M’s advantage fluctuated between six and 10 points in the second quarter before a 6-0 run to close out the half. Johnson converted an old-fashioned 3-point play with 40 seconds remaining and Barker hit a long-range bucket at the buzzer, sending the Maroon & White into the locker room up 40-26.

The Aggies registered the first six points of the third quarter to build their first 20-point lead of the game. Ol’ Sarge’s charges outscored Lamar 24-10 the remainder of the quarter and carried a commanding 64-36 cushion at the last intermission.

Texas A&M stretched the lead to as many as 35 points in the fourth quarter and the Cardinals were unable to close the gap under 28 the remainder of the contest.

Up Next
The Aggies continue their homestand with a noon game on Saturday, Dec. 9 versus Robert Morris inside Reed Arena.

POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Joni Taylor
On Elementary School Day…
“I want this to be an annual event, first off, it could be the first time children from the Brazos Valley step on campus or inside Reed Arena. It provides a great opportunity for us to put on display the great university we have, the product we put on the floor and sportsmanship. Also that they may leave and want to go to college, or someday play in Reed Arena. There are so many great opportunities that come from them just walking in here.”

On the enthusiasm elementary students brought to the court today…
“It is amazing, I could hear them before I got out of the tunnel. That is what you want. You want it to be loud. I love the excitement. I love how it gives the teachers a break, as a secondary education major, I can appreciate all that teachers do.

Redshirt Junior Forward Lauren Ware
On how much did the elementary crowd factor into how she felt…
“I think it was great, anytime that we can get as many fans in Reed as possible is great. The kids were a big help for us, they gave us energy and were screaming regardless of what happened. However, it created a great environment and I am really happy that they were able to come.”

Redshirt Junior Forward MJ Johnson
On what it was like having elementary students constantly cheering for the Aggies…
“Elementary school day is always my favorite day since the kids do not know what they are cheering for, but they are cheering. They are making noise and screaming, sometimes on the court it is hard to create your own energy, but having the kids there allows us to feed off of that.”

POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES 

• Texas A&M is now 18-10 versus Lamar all-time.
• Joni Taylor’s career record advances to 157-96 all-time and to 17-21 in her two seasons with the Aggies.
• Today was the third largest elementary school day attendance in program history with 7,529 fans inside Reed Arena. This was also the 14th largest overall crowd in school annals.

TEAM NOTES

• The Maroon & White have now won six games in a row, the longest winning streak since a nine-game run at the start of the 2021-22 season. 
• The Aggies scored 17 points off turnovers compared to just two points from Lamar in the first half. Texas A&M ended the game with a season-high 34 points off turnovers. 
• The Aggie bench poured in a season-high 35 points, outscoring Lamar’s bench by 13. A&M has outscored every team off the bench during their six-game win streak by an average of 11.0 points per game.
• The Maroon & White dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Cardinals 45-31. • Texas A&M held Lamar to only one three-pointer on 16.7% (1-6) shooting, the third game this season the Aggies have held an opponent to three-or-less 3-pointers. 
• The Aggies shot a season-high 78.6% (11-14) from the free-throw line. • Five Aggies scored in double-digits with Barker (13), Coulibaly (13), Johnson (11), Ware (11) and Rogers (10).
• The Maroon & White poured in 83 points on Lamar’s No. 25 ranked scoring defense, the most the Cardinals have let up this season and 30 more than their average (53.2). 
• Texas A&M began with a starting lineup of Endyia Rogers, Aicha Coulibaly, Sahara Jones, Janiah Barker and Lauren Ware. (8-1)

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Janiah Barker

• Tied for a team-high 13 points on an impressive 6-9 (66%) shooting from the field. 
• Tied her season-high in steals with three.

Lauren Ware 

• Recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 11 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. 
• Recorded multiple blocks for the seventh time this season, swatting away two shots versus Lamar.

MJ Johnson

• Led the Aggies in scoring off the bench with a season-high 11 points.

Aicha Coulibaly

• Matched Barker with a team-high 13 points on 6-9 (66%) shooting from the field.
• Tied her season-high in steals with three.

Kylie Marshall 

• Recorded a career-high three rebounds and one assist in just seven minutes off the bench.

Endyia Rogers

• Came into the game ranked No. 23 in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.09) and added to that number today with four assists and zero turnovers.