Aggies best Arkansas in Blair's return

By Matt Jones

Posted: January 6, 2013 at 3:58 p.m.

Michael Woods
“It’s a grind in the SEC,” Arkansas women’s Coach Tom Collen (right, shown with Texas A&M Coach Gary Blair) said Monday at the Downtown Tip-Off Club.

• Print item
• E-mail
• Tweet

FAYETTEVILLE — Nearly a decade removed from roaming its sidelines, Gary Blair proved Sunday he still knows how to win in Bud Walton Arena.

Blair led No. 24 Texas A&M to a 63-51 win over the No. 23 Razorbacks in his first game back in Fayetteville, improving to 2-0 against his former team and former assistant, Tom Collen.

The Aggies (12-5, 2-0) won their first road Southeastern Conference game in their inaugural season in the league. Arkansas fell to 12-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play.

Texas A&M opened the game with an 18-4 run and never trailed. Arkansas hit only 25 percent of its field goal attempts in the opening half and trailed 30-17 at the intermission.

The Razorbacks used a 9-0 run to pull within 43-37 on a Sarah Watkins jumper with 8:37 remaining, but got no closer.

Texas A&M responded with an 11-0 run, quickly increasing its lead to 17 points. The Aggies held the Razorbacks without a made field goal for nearly four minutes during the stretch and Arkansas never got within single-digits again.

Watkins led the Razorbacks with a game-high 19 points and Keira Peak added 11. Courtney Williams led Texas A&M with 16 points, and Kelsey Bone added a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds.

Texas A&M overcame 24 turnovers in the win. The game was a rematch of second round matchup in the NCAA Tournament last season, a 61-59 Aggies win.

Arkansas returns to the court Thursday with a home game against LSU.

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Please read our comment policy.

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.