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BATON ROUGE, La. -The trio of Kelsey Bone, Courtney
Walker and Kristi Bellock led 14th-ranked Texas A&M to a hard fought 74-57
win over LSU at the Pete Maravich Center in Baton Rouge on Big Monday.
In a homecoming for senior Kristi Bellock, she put on a show
for the hometown crowd with her fifth double-double this season, finishing the
game with 12 points and a career-high 11 rebounds to lead game.
A&M (18-5, 8-1 SEC) won its sixth straight game to move
into a tie for first place in the league standings. Bone finished with 21
points to lead the game and record her 8th 20 points effort this season.
Texas A&M set the tone for the day very early, racing
out to an 9-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game behind a Courtney
Williams three and buckets from Bellock, Walker and Adrienne Pratcher forcing
an LSU timeout. The Aggies kept the Lady Tigers off the board for over four
minutes with LSU shooting 0-for-4 from the floor and forcing five early
turnovers.
The Lady Tigers (13-9, 4-5) clawed back into the game,
pulling within two with 12:01 to go before halftime, but the Aggies responded
with a 10-2 run at the six minute mark to push the lead out to a game-high 11
points. The Aggies led by five at the break after LSU scored the final six
points of the first half.
The match-up inside between Bone and LSU junior forward
Theresa Plaisance did not disappoint, both players rank in the top seven in the
SEC in both scoring and rebounding this season. Bone finished with 21 points
and five rebounds, while Plaisance finished with 11 points and six rebounds.
The Aggies defense held Plaisance to 3-for-13 shooting in the game, the second
lowest shooting percentage in a game this year.
The Aggies continued their strong team offensive play as of
late with 18 assists, the 10th time in the last 14 games with at least 18
assists.
Courtney Walker rounded out the double figure scorers for
the Aggies with 16 points, on 8-of-10 shooting. Going back to the second half
against Vanderbilt, Walker has made 15 of her last 17 shots.
LSU was led by Adrienne Webb's 17, Danielle Ballard added 12
points off the bench to round out the double-digit scorers for the Lady Tigers.
The victory was another dominating one in league play for
Texas A&M, which has beaten opponents by an average of 22.9 points in its
eight SEC wins.
The Aggies return to the court Sunday at No. 15 South
Carolina for the first ever match-up between the two programs.
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