WBB: A&M soars past Marquette in 84-64 victory

Sometimes, the most exciting games are those that come down to a last-second buzzer-beater.

This wasn't one of those games.

In perhaps its most complete game of the young season, No. 24 Texas A&M (3-3) throttled the Marquette Golden Eagles (2-2) 84-64 in front of 4,113 fans on Sunday afternoon.

"I was really pleased with how hard we played, particularly in the first half," said A&M head coach Gary Blair. "We felt like our pressure could bother them, and it did. We wanted to go with our defensive lineup, because we felt like defense could win the game."

Junior Kelsey Bone hit all five of her free throws and led A&M with 17 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Alexia Standish, who is recovering from a knee injury, scored 11 and knocked down three three-pointers, two of which came in the first half.

"It has been a long process [to get my knee healthy]," said Standish. "I think my knee is almost back to 100 percent, but it has been getting my confidence back that I have been struggling with. I think this game really helped me with getting that confidence back and getting back to where I need to be."

After back-and-forth play for most of the first half, Bone connected on two free throws to break a 20-20 tie and ignited a 26-0 run that would put the game out of reach for the Golden Eagles.

Eighteen points into the A&M barrage, Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell was called for a technical foul.

"That was my first technical in 12 years," said Mitchell. "I've been coaching for 17 years, and I only have three. I asked for it because I felt like I needed to do something to stop the bleeding. I tried a timeout and it didn't work, so I tried a technical. That didn't work either, for the record."

After the break, A&M's advantage grew as large as 31 before Marquette made a late push to cut the lead to 14 with 3:51 remaining.

However, the last-chance effort by the Golden Eagles was thwarted when Bone scored five consecutive points in 42 seconds, pushing the Aggies' lead back to 19.

"I think [Marquette was able to cut the lead] because we were playing more people," said A&M senior forward Kristi Bellock. "The chemistry on the court wasn't as strong as the starting five. We have to get better as a team so that when anyone comes in, there is no loss in [level] of play."

While Bone and Standish finished atop the leaderboard in points, four newcomers contributed on the offensive end. Courtney Walker finished with six points and three boards, while Courtney Williams, Peyton Little and Jordan Jones combined for 20 points and five assists.