Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
UA women fall to Blair, A&M
FAYETTEVILLE — Texas A& M women’s basketball Coach Gary Blair had a party at his house in Fayetteville on Sunday night after the Aggies played Arkansas.
It was the first time Blair had coached at Walton Arena in 10 years, since he ended a 10year run as Arkansas’ coach.
“It’s tough,” Blair said. “You’ve got family and friends and everybody in the audience, and I’ve got some people stopping by my house afterwards and I didn’t want it to be a wake. I wanted it to be a celebration.”
Blair and the No. 24 Aggies were able to celebrate a 63-51 victory over No. 23 Arkansas before an announced crowd of 2,269.
Blair said he felt more pressure for last season’s Arkansas-Texas A&M game, when the Aggies beat the Razorbacks
61-59 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at College Station, Texas, but he was emotional about playing at Arkansas given his history with the two schools.
“I was still a basket case in this game,” Blair said. “My assistants were giving me some great calls.”
The Aggies ( 12- 4, 2- 0 SEC) jumped out to an 18-4 lead the first seven minutes and led 30-17 at halftime They pushed the lead to 35-17 with 18:50 left after a threepoint play by senior guard Adrienne Pratcher.
Arkansas (12-3, 0-2) pulled within 43-37 on senior forward Sarah Watkins’ 15-foot jump shot with 8:37 left, but Texas A&M outscored the Razorbacks 9-0 over a 2:23 span to move ahead 52- 37 at the 5: 37 mark. The Razorbacks didn’t pull closer than 10 points the rest of the game.
“We’re disappointed with the loss,” said Arkansas Coach Tom Collen, who was Blair’s assistant with the Razorbacks for four seasons. “We really didn’t play very well in the first half and missed a lot of shots.
“To our kids credit, I thought we battled to the end and never gave up.”
Texas A& M overcame 24 turnovers by shooting 44.2 percent from the field (23 of 52) and outrebounding Arkansas 45-30. The Razorbacks shot 29.5 percent from the field (18 of 61) and were 1 of 14 on three-point attempts.
Freshman guard Courtney Williams led Texas A& M with 16 points on 7of- 11 shooting and had 7 rebounds. Pratcher had 13 points, and junior center Kelsey Bone had 11 points and 14 rebounds.
“Give Texas A&M credit, they’re good,” said Collen, noting all of the Aggies’ losses have been to teams ranked in the top 10. “They’re by far the best team we have played this year.
“They’re hard to guard. They’re probably more of a Top 10 team than a Top 25 team.”
Watkins led Arkansas with 19 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocked shots. Junior forward Keira Peak had 11 points, and guard Calli Berna had 6 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds.
“We got down early and they couldn’t miss and our shots wouldn’t go, but what stands out is we didn’t give up and came out in the second half and battled back,” said Berna, a sophomore guard. “That has to carry us the rest of the season.”
Arkansas is shooting 29 percent from the field (34 of 117) in two SEC games, including a 50-47 loss at Auburn on Thursday night.
“The other teams are playing great defense, but we’re also just not hitting shots,” Peak said. “We’re going to get back in the gym and grind.”
Blair said he’s been lucky to coach at Arkansas and Texas A&M.
“Hey, just think, the 20 best years of my life have been at Fayetteville and College Station,” Blair said. “You can’t beat it. Two schools that understand what bigtime athletics is all about.
“I’ve had the best of both worlds, and I’ve enjoyed the heck of out of it.”