WBB: Bone records 13th double-double, Aggies defeat Rebels 82-53

Some would say the cranium or rib cage are the most important pieces of the human skeletal system. However, in the case of the No. 10 Texas A&M women's basketball team, the most important bone is the Kelsey Bone.

On Thursday night, Bone registered her 13th double-double of the season and led the Aggies to an 82-53 victory over the visiting Ole Miss Rebels in front of 5,804 fans at Reed Arena. With the victory, A&M improves to 21-6 on the season and 11-2 in SEC play.

"It's a combination of things [that makes Bone so difficult to matchup against]," said Ole Miss head coach Brett Frank. "Kelsey is a phenomenal player in the sense that she has great size, athleticism and strength. She has a versatility to her game, she's not one dimensional. She can do more than catch it on the block and bump it off the glass."

Bone finished the game with 24 points, a career-high 17 rebounds and three assists, and Adrienne Pratcher also added 13 points and six boards to lead the Aggies.

Valencia McFarland led the overmatched Rebels (9-17, 2-11) with 11 points and Cedar Hill product Diara Moore had five.

With 6-4 Bone, 6-1 Courtney Williams and 6-1 Kristi Bellock in the starting lineup, the Rebels – who feature 6-1 Danielle McCray and Courtney Marbra as their tallest players – had no answer for the play of the Aggies' center and forwards. A&M was able to score a whopping 50 points in the paint and out-rebounded the significantly smaller Rebels 47-35 on the night.

"In practice yesterday, Coach Blair said we were going to get back to our bread and butter. We're going to get the ball inside," said Bone. "That's what won us a national championship [in 2011], so why stop doing it now?"

Bone, who is now averaging a double-double for the season (17.6 points and 10.0 rebounds per game), drew double- and triple- teams all evening, but was routinely able to pass it off to teammates for an open look.

"The best part of the night for me was Peyton (Little) knocking down her shot," said Bone. "We're going to need that down the stretch. When people are able to come in and do their job and what is expected of them and play their role, it's really exciting."

A&M immediately established their presence inside on the offensive end of the court to take a 22-6 lead with just under 12 minutes to play in the first period. That advantage would stretch to as many as 21 before the Rebels would chip away, leaving A&M with a 40-28 lead at halftime.

Ole Miss fought to stay within striking distance in the beginning of the second half, cutting the Aggie lead to as few as 10 points with 16:21 remaining on a layup by Moore.

However, A&M's defense allowed just six points over the next nine and a half minutes, and the Aggie offense poured in 24 to grow the lead to 28 and ultimately seal the game with 6:52 remaining.

The Aggies now travel to Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores and must deal with the quirkiness of Memorial Gymnasium if they hope to come out with another important SEC victory.

"We're going to work on [coaching from the baseline] tomorrow in practice," said A&M head coach Gary Blair. "This is a huge game for Vanderbilt. They're at 7-6 [in conference] and 8-8 will get them in with their RPI. They need to win at least one of their next three, but we're trying to win this whole damn thing."