Aggie Women Seek To Get Off NCAA 'Bubble' vs. Ole Miss

Texas A&M has four games remaining to improve its position heading into the SEC Tournament in Nashville

The Texas A&M women’s basketball team heads to Ole Miss with dreams of improving their odds of reaching the NCAA Tournament when the pair meet at 8 p.m. Thursday.

While the Aggies (14-10, 4-8 in SEC) are coming off a 74-58 loss to LSU, the Aggies have won three of their last four games. That was good enough to get the Aggies back into ESPN’s Bracketology on Tuesday, as the Aggies are now the second team out of the projected NCAA Tournament field, behind Dayton.

A victory over Ole Miss (18-6, 6-5), which has been ranked for a good portion of the SEC season, would certainly help Texas A&M’s case.

The Aggies’ last meeting with the Rebels, which came on Jan. 20, didn’t go well. The Aggies lost that game, 80-63, at a time when they were in a slump and lost seven of their first eight SEC games. The Rebels were balanced on offense, with five different players in double figures. Lashonda Monk led the way with 16 points, and the Rebels shot nearly 50 percent for the game.

Texas A&M shot 41 percent but had just one player in double figures, Kayla Wells, who had 14 points.

While the Aggies have gotten up off the mat the past couple of weeks, the Rebels are in a downturn. After winning five of their first six SEC games, the Rebels have lost four of their last five. But, before the Aggies get optimistic, the first three of the Rebels’ losses in that stretch were to ranked teams — South Carolina, Georgia and LSU. But, Ole Miss is coming off a 70-59 loss to rival Mississippi State on Sunday, which was its first loss to an unranked team in SEC action.

That loss bumped the Rebels out of the Top 25.

Shakira Austin is still the player to stop for Ole Miss, as she averages 14.6 points and 8.8 rebounds. Madison Scott and Angel Baker each average a little more than 10 points.

What could a win over the Rebels mean to A&M? Well, in ESPN Bracketology the Rebels are a No. 7 seed. Mississippi State, which just beat the Rebels on Sunday, is one of the last four teams in the projected field. While the Aggies lost to Mississippi State earlier this year, a win over a likely NCAA Tournament team this late in the season would certainly boost the Aggies’ chances.

Against LSU, Wells scored 23 points and Aaliyah Patty added a double-double, with 11 points and 10 rebounds. But the Aggies lost that game in a familiar way — with a bad second half of shooting from the field. The Aggies shot 23.5 percent in the fourth quarter in the loss to LSU, and if you go back to the Ole Miss game last month, the Aggies shot 16.7 percent in the third quarter, which basically doomed any comeback effort.

The Aggies will need a better shooting effort in the second half against Ole Miss, which is one of two unranked teams the Aggies face down the stretch. That other game is against Alabama at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

But being back on the projected tournament bubble at least gives the Aggies some hope that they can send coach Gary Blair to the NCAA Tournament in his last season. The Aggies have made the event in each of the last 15 seasons in which there has been a tournament (the 2020 tournament was canceled).

After this weekend, Texas A&M hosts No. 1 South Carolina on Feb. 24 and travels to No. 14 Georgia on Feb. 27 to end the regular season. The Aggies lost to South Carolina by 20 points earlier this season but have not faced Georgia yet.

The SEC Tournament then starts on March 2 in Nashville.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.