SAN ANTONIO, Texas –– When the Women’s bracket was announced, some were stunned that Texas A&M was not a top-seed. After going through arguably the toughest conference, they went 23-1 in the regular season and won the SEC Championship.
On Wednesday, A&M (25-2) found themselves in unfamiliar territory, trailing by double-digits to the 7-seed Iowa State Cyclones (17-11). Iowa State was shooting the lights-out, finishing with 16 made three-pointers as they built a 12-point lead at one point. By the start of the 4th quarter, the Iowa State lead was 9 as they looked to seal the upset win.
However, Texas A&M refused to let their season end. Over the last 5 minutes, they used a 17 to run to come all the way back. With the final shot, point guard Jordan Nixon tied the game with 5 seconds to go, forcing overtime. In the extra frame, the teams went back-and-forth again as they found themselves tied with Iowa State possession. Then, Ashley Joens missed a layup and Nixon took the ball coast-to-coast, drove the lane, and hit the floater as time expired to stun Iowa State, 84-82.
Texas A&M had a timeout, but coach Gary Blair trusted his point guard to make the right play. It was the right call, as Nixon was on another level scoring all night. She finished with a career-high 35 points on 16 of 28 shooting.
A&M overcomes elite night from Joens and Iowa State
For Iowa State, the story of the game was their incredible shooting performance. Right from the jump, they were hitting everything they put up; they hit 5 of 6 three-pointers in the 1st quarter as they opened up a 10-point lead.
Individually, Ashley Joens led the Cyclones. She finished with 32 points on 9 of 23 shooting while hitting 4 of 7 from deep. She was also extremely efficient from the free-throw line, knocking down 10 of her 11 attempts.
However, Iowa State failed to put the game away. As a team, they committed 24 turnovers; that helped A&M stay in the game even when the shots were dropping. Moving forward, A&M will need to cause more havoc on defense, especially around the perimeter.
Up Next
No. 2 Texas A&M vs. No. 3 Arizona, Saturday, March 27, Alamodome, San Antonio, TX
