COLLEGE STATION, Texas — In the second-highest scoring game of her career, Jordan Nixon led the Texas A&M women’s basketball team in its win over DePaul, 95-75, inside Reed Arena on Monday night.
Nixon led the Maroon & White (3-0), scoring 25 points while shooting 50.0% from the field. Kayla Wells (21), Qadashah Hoppie (12) and Destiny Pitts (12) also contributed to the Aggie offense with double-digit points. Pitts aided the offensive attack, tallying five assists to lead A&M in dimes. Defensively, Nixon and Wells led with two steals each.
Ten different Aggies scored during the game while shooting 46.1% as a team. A&M controlled the contest physically, leading the rebounding margin, 52-36, and outscoring the Blue Demons 36-26 in the paint. The Maroon & White’s bench dominated the matchup against the Blue Demons’, 19-0, with Sydnee Roby contributing eight points and led the team with nine rebounds off the pine.
The Aggies and Blue Demons traded blows early in the game, but A&M persisted and paced DePaul 12-8 with 4:51 left in the first period. Boosted by a 3-pointer from Wells, the Maroon & White went into the second period maintaining its lead, 26-17. Nixon came alive, shooting a three-point shot 12 seconds into the second quarter and continued to dominate on the court, scoring 17 points in the period and guided the Aggies to a 48-37 lead at halftime.
A&M led offensively during the first five minutes of the third period and held a 58-42 advantage with 4:55 left. Pitts and Nixon directed the Aggie attack for the rest of the period, with Pitts draining a last-second 3-point basket to send the Aggies into the final quarter leading 78-53. A dominant fourth quarter outing from Wells clinched the win, 95-75.
UP NEXT
The Texas A&M women’s basketball team faces off against Stephen F. Austin Thursday night inside Reed Arena at 7 p.m.
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
- Texas A&M climbs to 3-0 through the first three games for the second-consecutive season, while DePaul falls to 2-1.
- The Maroon & White improve to 5-2 in the all-time series with the Blue Demons.
- A&M extends its regular season non-conference win streak to 19-consecutive games dating back to Dec. 1, 2019.
TEAM NOTES
- Texas A&M extends its home winning streak to 16 games, dating back to Nov. 25, 2020. The streak is the longest in the Southeastern Conference.
- The Maroon & White made 10 threes on the night. This is the third outing with eight-or-more made triples this year, matching last season’s total.
- The Aggies dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Blue Devils by a 52 to 36 margin.
- As a team, A&M dished 19 assists compared to 12 from DePaul.
- Four Aggies scored in double-digits for the second time this season.
- The A&M bench outscored DePaul’s 19-0.
- In the third period, the Maroon & White poured in 30 points, marking the first time since the fourth quarter in the Florida game last season on Jan. 3, 2021.
- Texas A&M utilized a starting lineup of Jordan Nixon, Qadashah Hoppie, Kayla Wells, Destiny Pitts and Aaliyah Patty for the first time this season (1-0).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Jordan Nixon scored 19 points in the first half, shooting an efficient 7-of-11 and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc in the opening two quarters. Nixon finished the game with a team-high 25 points, marking the second-most points of her career.
- Kayla Wells poured in a season-high 21 points and hauled in six rebounds.
- Sydnee Roby had an Aggie-career-best nine points, and collegiate-best nine rebounds, dating back to her days at Miami.
- Qadashah Hoppie reached double-digits in scoring for the second time this season, ending the night with 12 points. Hoppie added a season-high four rebounds.
- Jada Malone hauled in a career-high eight rebounds.
- Women’s Basketball Hall-of-Famer Gary Blair improves to 841-333 overall and 433-170 at Texas A&M. Blair is now 6-2 against Blue Demons coach Doug Bruno.
- Blair is now only six wins away from becoming the winningest coach in the history of Texas A&M basketball history, trailing men’s coaching legend Shelby Metcalf (438 wins).
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening Statement…
“He (DePaul Head Coach Doug Bruno) does it year in and year out. He plays a system and he plays hard. I told our kids before the game, he’ll only play seven unless he gets in foul trouble, so he went eight and she played four minutes. I’m really pleased on how we came out of this game and I thought we were prepared. Coach (Kelly) Bond-White, it was her scout. Of course, because she’s from Chicago, she was very intense during the whole ballgame, trying to get the right matchups. I thought when we made our run in the second quarter, we hit a couple of key shots and Jordan (Nixon) was Jordan. I’m not worried about six turnovers. I think she’s just a gamer, she knows how to play. I have (Qadashah) Hoppie, (Kayla) Wells and (Destiny) Pitts. When that foursome is together, I can afford to play the smaller teams with a single post, which I could tonight. I won’t be able to do that in the SEC. I’ll have to go back to my traditional fours and fives, but for certain teams I have got a lot of options.”
On the upcoming game versus SFA and the culture at A&M…
“I’ve got a lot of my former players from Stephen F. Austin that will all be here. They will be hollering for the Lady Jacks, which they should, but I’m glad to have them down here. Eventually, I’ll have some South Oak Cliff players coming in. I love it, Ciera (Johnson), my post player for the last four years was honored today. They said she’s asleep right now over in Turkey or Russia, but she’ll watch the game. It feels good when former players and parents come back to watch their University. That’s what they are here for, to watch their University and team play. This team is shaping very well. Now, we can’t fall asleep before Stephen F. Austin.”
Redshirt Junior guard Jordan Nixon
On her scoring success…
“My teammates were finding me and I just had the confidence to put it up. That was our mentality, that was our word for today, attack. Just being in attack mode.”
Junior center Sydnee Roby
On the team’s mentality towards rebounding…
“Our coach always talks about being relentless. Just owning that word and being relentless on the board. He always talks about going to the backside, just trying to get boards however you can, just non-stop go, go, go. I think that aspect of going and getting the rebound, making sure we get those numbers is always something we emphasize.”
