In the final home game of the regular season, the Aggies hosted the Jacksonville State Gamecocks and fell 60-51 on senior day. The loss knocked the Aggies down to eighth place in the Conference USA standings and are three games ahead of Sam Houston, avoiding the ninth overall seed.
The Gamecocks got it going early with a pair of buckets from Bre’Anna Rhodes, followed by a three-point field goal from Rachel Johnson, giving the Gamecocks an early 7-4 lead in under two minutes of action.
In the following minutes of the first quarter, with the Gamecocks leading 9-8, both teams struggled to find their rhythm and went on a scoring drought that lasted for two minutes. Senior guard Molly Kaiser ended the drought by scoring her first two points of the game on two successful free throws, while connecting on a jump shot shortly after to tie the game at the end of the first quarter.
After a strong first quarter finish, the Aggies entered the second going back and forth with the quarter featuring four lead changes and three ties. With Kaiser being well-defended, the Aggies had to step up to keep the game close and four different Aggies rose to the occasion and got a shot to go in. Guards Jalia Harding and Loes Rozing both connected on two shots, while forwards Fanta Gassama and Ene Adams drilled a basket to keep the Aggies from falling behind. The quarter ended with the Gamecocks knocking down two free throws to grab the 31-27 lead at halftime.
Entering the second half, the Aggies struggled to get anything going and had plenty of costly turnovers that turned into points for the Gamecocks that propelled them to go on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to double digits over the Aggies. Kaiser retaliated and cut the lead down to four points with a midrange jump shot and four free throws. The Aggies forced the Gamecocks to call a timeout when Adams cut the lead down to a single bucket. Despite giving up eight points, the Gamecocks ended the third quarter up 42-37.
The Gamecocks continued putting pressure on the Aggies offense and forced them into tough shots, while overwhelming the Aggies offensively. They re-extended their lead into double digits with a jump shot from Asia Barclay.
Even with the game slowly slipping away, the Aggies continued to give their best effort and managed to cut the lead down to six points. The Gamecocks would hold on in the final minutes to steal the 60-51 victory.
The Aggies will now travel to Miami to take on the Florida International University Golden Panthers for the final game of the regular season tomorrow at 11 a.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
