Aggies hold off gritty Commodores in first round

Greenville, SC-No. 13 Texas A&M defeated No. 12 Vanderbilt, 77-70, in the first round of the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament on Wednesday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.

Texas A&M survived several times with Vanderbilt, including a three-point barrage in the final two minutes that cut a 17-point lead to three.

Sydney Bowles led the Aggies with a career-high 22 points and shot 6-of-12 from three.

Sacha Washington led the Commodores with 17 points and tied for a team-high six rebounds.

Through the first, both teams traded buckets, but Texas A&M went on a 5-0 run to close the quarter, 21-16.

The Aggies continued their momentum to start the second quarter by outscoring the Commodores 10-2 and took their largest lead of the half, 13. However, the Commodores were able to cut the deficit to eight heading into halftime, 40-33.

Texas A&M’s dominance in the paint outscored Vanderbilt in the third and fourth quarters. The Aggies scored 38 points in the paint and had 34 rebounds, while the Commodores only had 26 points in the paint with 26 rebounds.

Sydney Bowles knocked down a timely three for the Aggies in the fourth, stretching their biggest lead to 17 with less than eight minutes left.

However, the Commodores had no easy escape as they hit four from behind the arc to close the lead to three, 69-66, with two minutes remaining, but were unable to complete their comeback attempt.

Until Next Time
Texas A&M will face 5-seed Mississippi State in the second round of the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday at 2:00 p.m.

Vanderbilt (12-19, 3-14 SEC) was eliminated from the tournament.