Texas A&M defeats Louisiana Tech Behind Record Night - kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and Killeen

College Station, TX – Texas A&M started the game with a surge and put the game out of reach early on with strong team play and stiff defense leading to a 77-26 final score. The Aggies swarmed on defense forcing 22 Lady Techster turnovers and holding Louisiana Tech to 9-of-54 shooting on the night. The 26 point effort by Louisiana Tech was the lowest against Texas A&M since McNeese State scored 26 points against the Aggies in Nov. 2006.

The Aggies took control of the game early scoring the first 13 points of the contest, keeping Louisiana Tech from scoring until 12:28 remaining in the first half after missing their first 10 shot attempts. The defensive pressure got to the Lady Techsters early with three Aggie steals and four Lady Techsters turnovers in the opening four minutes leading to multiple fast break layups for Texas A&M.

Freshman Peyton Little started the game on fire from the floor making her first four 3-point attempts and 5-of-6 from the floor for a new season high in points before the first half ended. The Aggies were led by Little with 15 points at the break, Senior Kristi Bellock had four rebounds to lead the team at half.

"With all the great things Peyton did tonight, I was more impressed with her assist to Williams for her three than any of the shots she made," Head Coach Gary Blair said. "When we ran a play for Williams and Little made the assist instead of forcing the shot, I thought that was very unselfish play."

The defensive pressure continued throughout the first-half with the Aggies holding the Lady Techsters to only 5.3 % from the floor on 1-of-19 shooting. The Aggie defense collected 13 steals and had 19 points off turnovers over the first 20 minutes of play. The Lady Techsters six points in the first half was the fewest by an opponent since Delaware State scored 11 in 2006.

The Lady Techsters opened the second half with five points in the first two minutes cutting the Aggie lead to 32, but the Aggies responded with a  12 point run to increase the Aggie lead to 44 points with just over 14 minutes remaining in the game. During the run Junior Karla Gilbert scored eight points with three layups and two free-throws, Gilbert ended the game with eight points in 20 minutes of play.  

Back-to-back three pointers by Freshman Courtney Williams with 4:40 remaining increased the Aggie lead to game-high 54 points. The final two three pointers of the game tied a Reed Arena team record of 11, achieved two times previously against Iowa State in 2002 and Mercer in 2006. The Aggies 11-for-15 three point shooting effort is the second best by any team in the SEC thus far this season. Aggie freshman started 9-for-9 from three point land, Williams and Little made their first four attempts and Jordan Jones was successful on her first try.

"Being able to rotate three new guards allowed us to flat out run and play hard because that six that were out there were doing a great job out there together," Blair added. "I was pleased with the game tonight and I told the team that this was our first final exam and I gave us and A minus."

The Aggies were led in scoring by Little with 18 points, also scoring in double figures were Williams with 14 and Adrienne Pratcher with 10. Bellock ended the game with eight rebounds and Karla Gilbert added six. Jordan Jones was once again a spark of the bench with seven assists and three steals. For the game the Aggies outscored the Lady Techsters 23-1 in points off turnovers and 18-0 in fast break points.

Texas A&M will return to Reed Arena against TCU at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon allowing fans time to return home for the highly anticipated Heisman Ceremony. . The TCU game will continue the Holiday Hoops promotion and will be Student Appreciation Night, with the first 200 students will received a finals survival package.