Aggie Women To Open SEC vs. LSU After Vanderbilt Postponement

The Texas A&M Aggies women’s basketball team will now open Southeastern Conference play on the road against LSU on Jan. 2, now that the Aggies’ home opener with Vanderbilt is postponed.

The Aggies announced the postponement on Wednesday and have not announced a rescheduled game date.

Vanderbilt had beaten Alabama State on Tuesday night and were coming to College Station on two days’ rest and a four-game winning streak before the program’s COVID issues were determined.

The Aggies are No. 23 in the nation entering SEC action and are attempting to defend their 2021 regular-season title. Head coach Gary Blair is retiring at the end of this season, and he learned last week he was a nominee for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for the first time.

So, now the Aggies will turn their attention to No. 19 LSU and its new coach, Kim Mulkey, when the two teams face off in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Jan. 2 at 2 p.m. on the SEC Network.

It’s the start of a brutal beginning to SEC play for the Aggies (10-2). Following LSU (12-1), the Aggies travel to No. 7 Tennessee on Jan. 6, face unranked Florida (10-3) on Jan. 9, No. 1 South Carolina (12-0) on Jan. 13, unranked Auburn (8-3) on Jan. 16 and unranked Ole Miss (12-1) on Jan. 20.

The Aggies will start this stretch on nearly two weeks’ rest. Texas A&M left off with a 77-51 victory over UTSA on Dec. 20 in which Aaliyah Patty set career highs with 20 points and 18 rebounds. That game pushed Patty’s team lead in rebounds to 7.1 per game.

The Aggies are built around the talents of Kayla Wells, Jordan Nixon and Destiny Pitts. Wells leads the Aggies with 17.5 points per game, while Nixon is averaging 14.5 points per game and has a team-high 47 assists. Pitts is the third Aggie in double figures, averaging 10.8 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game.

Qadashah Hoppie is the team’s leading 3-point shooter by percentage (48.5 percent), but Nixon and Pitts lead the Aggies in terms of total made 3-pointers with 29 and 26 made 3-pointers, respectively.

LSU has lost just one game under Mulkey, who left Baylor after last season to take over the Tigers. Mulkey won three national titles with the Bears but started her college basketball career as a highly-decorated player at Louisiana Tech, where she was later an assistant coach before taking the Baylor job.

By the time the Tigers host the Aggies, they will have already played an SEC game, as the Tigers host Georgia on Dec. 30.

Khayla Pointer leads the Tigers with 17.1 points per game, while Alexis Morris adds 13.7 points per game. Autumn Newby and Pointer each average at least seven rebounds per game, while Pointer also leads the Tigers in assists with 68.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.