Blair notches career win 850 as Aggies cruise to victory over Arkansas, 77-64

Press conference video courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics.

Kayla Wells’ career outing was more than enough to shake Texas A&M’s dry spell and secure Gary Blair’s 850th career victory.

The graduate guard scored 18 of her career-high 30 points in the second half to help lead the Maroon & White to a much-needed 77-64 victory over Arkansas at Reed Arena on Tuesday night.

“(Kayla) Wells was pretty special,” Blair said. “We just kept telling her to score off the drive.”

But Wells wasn’t the only Aggie to post a career night.

TexAgs

Kayla Wells’ career-best outing powered the Aggies to a much-needed win in conference play Thursday evening. 

Senior forward Aaliyah Patty corralled a career-high 19 rebounds — seven of which came on the offensive end — to fuel the Aggies’ 58-46 advantage on the glass.

Destiny Pitts also found herself active on both ends, posting her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

“We knew the rebounding was going to be critical. We knew that they shoot a lot of threes and try to get the shot up fast,” Pitts said. “That was going to be key for us to win the game.”

The Aggies (12-9, 2-7) played uncharacteristically well for a team that entered the contest only a half-game out of last place in the Southeastern Conference.

Despite A&M’s opponents having hit 31-of-63 triples in their previous three losses, the Aggies were able to lock down the fifth-best 3-point shooting team in the SEC to just 17.4 percent from deep (4-of-23).

Arkansas (14-8, 4-5), led by Samara Spencer’s 20 points and Amber Ramirez’s 17, failed to find consistent production from the rest of their supporting cast without the services of their second leading-scorer Makayla Daniels.

After the Ags led comfortably through the first two frames, a 9-0 Arkansas run to open up the third quarter put Texas A&M back on their toes as the deficit was cut to just four points.

Nonetheless, the Aggies refused to let up.

Qadashah Hoppie broke the ice with a midrange jumper to kickstart what would become a 21-9 third-quarter run to propel the Aggies through the remainder of the game.

Texas A&M’s 18-point lead heading into the final quarter was sufficient enough to combat another poor close, with the team only hitting one field goal in the last 10 minutes.

Yet, the latest episode of A&M’s fourth-quarter woes was overshadowed with 19 seconds remaining as Wells drilled three free throws to register a new career-high as the team was well on its way to their second victory in league play.

“We were the same team. I just think we had a sense of urgency today,” Wells said. “Coach Blair stressed that, and we stressed that at practice these past few days.

“We are trying to get to the tournament because we’re hungry. We just have to keep that sense of urgency and energy and stick to the game plan like we’re supposed to.”

Up next, Texas A&M will head to Lexington for a Sunday afternoon meeting with Kentucky.