College Station, Texas - The Nebraska women's basketball team fell to Texas A&M, 69-54, in front of 1,135 fans at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas, on Saturday afternoon.
The Aggies opened the second half with an 10-0 run to turn NU's 34-29 halftime lead into a five-point edge. With the loss, the Huskers fell to 8-14 overall and 1-10 in Big 12 Conference action, while Texas A&M improved to 10-12 and 3-8 in league play.
Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said the first five minutes of each half was critical in the loss.
"You look at the first five minutes of each half and we got outscored 18-0," Yori said. "That's the ballgame. We haven't been good coming out of either half throughout the year. This is a tough one, there's no question about it."
Alexa Johnson led the Huskers with 17 points and six rebounds but fouled out with 2:26 to play. Margaret Richards added 10 points and six boards as the only to Huskers in double figures.
Lynn Classen and Melissa Picone led the Aggies with 12 point apiece, while Rhianna Reed and Toccara Williams each added 10 points to give the Aggies four players in double figures. Entering the game, Picone had scored 13 points the entire season.
The Aggies got hot in the second half knocking down 58.3 percent (14-24) of their shots from the field, including 57.1 percent (4-7) of their three-pointers. Texas A&M also hit 8-10 free throws down the stretch to close the door on the Huskers. The Aggies entered the game shooting just 35 percent from the field in conference play, including 23.6 percent from three-point range. They were also shooting just 59.6 percent from the free throw line.
For the game, A&M shot 45.6 percent (26-67), including 29.4 percent (5-17) from beyond the three-point arc. The Aggies hit 85.7 percent (12-14) of their free throws. A&M also outrebounded the Huskers, 37-34, and forced 19 NU turnovers, while committing just 14 turnovers on the day. Texas A&M shot just 36.4 percent (12-33) from the field, connecting on just 1-of-10 three-point attempts in the first half. The Aggies hit all four of their first-half free throw attempts. Both teams committed six first-half turnovers, and the Aggies outrebounded the Huskers, 18-15, in the first half.
Nebraska finished the game by hitting just 36.5 percent (19-52) from the field, but did hit 40 percent (4-10) of its three-pointers. NU also hit just 4-of-9 free throws in the second half, finishing the game shooting 63.2 percent from the line. The Huskers knocked down 52.2 percent (12-23) of their first-half field goal attempts, including 2-of-3 three-pointers. NU was also 8-of-10 at the free throw line in the first half.
Nebraska returns to home action by playing host to Kansas at the Devaney Center on Wednesday, Feb. 19, at 7:05 p.m.