Alabama
Texas A&M University
Alabama Women’s Basketball Remains on the Road for Matchup with Texas A&M
2/8/2017 10:59:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Crimson Tide and Aggies to tip off in Reed Arena Thursday at 7 p.m. CT
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama women's basketball team (15-8, 3-7 SEC) hits the road for its second consecutive away game on Thursday when it takes on Texas A&M (17-6, 7-3 SEC) in College Station. This will be the lone meeting between the Tide and Aggies during the 2017 regular season.
THE BROADCAST
Thursday's game will air on SEC Network + with Will Johnson on play-by-play and Tap Bentz as the analyst. The game will also be available via the Crimson Tide Sports Network on 93.3 FM locally, with Roger Hoover calling all the action. Fans will be able to follow along with live scoring on RollTide.com and game updates will be available on Twitter at @AlabamaWBB.
OPENING TIP
Juniors Hannah Cook and Ashley Williams are both on pace to reach the 1,000 point milestone by season's end. Cook currently stands at 926 points, 74 away from 1,000, while Williams is only 54 points away from the mark at 946 points.
Freshman Ashley Knight has 57 blocks on the year, which ranks No. 1 in the SEC and 18th in the nation. She currently stands at No. 3 on Alabama's single-season top 10 list and is four away from the No. 2 spot, which is held by Tausha Mills (1997-98). Yolanda Watkins holds the Crimson Tide record at 68 blocks, which she achieved during the 1993-94 season.
THE SERIES
Texas A&M has won all five meetings in the series that began on Jan. 3, 2013. This will be the fourth game played in College Station and first since Feb. 16, 2015. Last year's game played in Tuscaloosa came down to the wire, but the Aggies would come out on top, 59-56.
BOLTON AMONG ALABAMA'S TOP 10 IN CAREER BLOCKS
With her 20 blocks thus far this season, junior NeNe Bolton moved into Alabama's top 10 in career blocks. Heading into Sunday's game she has 86 total, which ranks seventh. She is now five blocks away from the No. 6 spot currently held by Nikki Hegstetter (2012-16).
GETTING TO THE LINE
Alabama finished the 2015-16 season ranked 73rd in the nation in free throw attempts (615) and 77th in free throws made (430) while averaging 69.9 percent made per game. The Crimson Tide is making an even stronger showing this season getting to the line a total of 551 times, 199 more times than its opponents (352). Alabama ranks first in the SEC and fifth in the nation in free throw attempts.
WATCHING WADE
Shaquera Wade's production all over the court has nearly doubled in every category from a season ago. The sophomore is averaging 10.7 points, a team-high 6.4 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.7 assists. As a freshman, she finished with averages of 6.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.0 assists. Wade also has three double-doubles this season, the most of anyone on the team.
LEADING LEWIS
Freshman Jordan Lewis has started every game at the point guard position for Alabama and has shown poise and confidence running the offense beyond her years. She is currently averaging a team-best 4.0 assists per game, ranking her seventh in the Southeastern Conference. Lewis has also scored double-digit points 14 times, led the team in steals five times and rebounding three times.
ABOUT TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M is under the direction of Gary Blair, who is in his 14th season at Texas A&M and 32nd overall as a head coach. Throughout his tenure, he has led his teams to 10 NCAA Sweet 16 appearances and won the NCAA National Championship in 2011. Blair stands tied at No. 13 in career wins by an NCAA Division I coach with 733.
Texas A&M enters Thursday's game with a 17-6 overall record and a 7-3 mark in Southeastern Conference play. The Aggies are 11-1 at home this season with the only loss coming to Southern Cal on Nov. 30, 66-62.
Texas A&M has four student-athletes averaging double-figure points, led by sophomore Danni Williams, who scores 17.8 points per game. She is followed by junior Khaalia Hillsman (16.9 ppg), senior Curtyce Knox (11.0 ppg) and sophomore Anriel Howard (10.3 ppg).
Knox currently leads both the SEC and the nation in assists with 215 total for an average of 9.3 per game.
