COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Texas A&M leaned on its deep bench during the ninth-ranked Aggies’ record-setting victory.
Destiny Pitts scored 14 points to lead Texas A&M to a 112-26 victory over Northwestern State on Monday night.
Kayla Wells and Ciera Johnson each added 13 points as the the Aggies (9-0) set a school record for scoring. The previous mark came in a 111-83 victory over Lamar on Nov. 15, 1995.
Alexis Morris added 12 points and Zaay Green, a transfer from Tennessee, had 10 in her A&M debut as the Aggies’ reserves totaled 69 points.
Pitts, who transferred from Minnesota, shot 4 for 7 from 3-point range. Morris, who transferred from Rutgers, hit 3 of 6 field goals and 5 of 6 free throws.
“When you can bring those transfers off the bench and they can be happy and play within a system, you know you have chemistry,” A&M coach Gary Blair said. “And the best thing all three of them did is they shared the ball.”
A&M was able to play 10 reserves with all but one playing nine minutes because the starters set the tone by hitting 17 of 27 field goals. Johnson made all five of her field goals and fellow senior Wells shot 5 for 7.
“I thought we had a complete game,” Blair said. “We’ve been on them hard for two days and we wanted to make sure we brought it to the court and I think we did.”
A&M shot 58.3% from the field (42 of 72), including 12 of 23 from 3-point range (52.2%). The 12 3s tied the school record set in 1996 against Brown and tied against Missouri in 2013.
Anessa Dussette scored eight points to lead Northwestern State (0-5), which made only 9 of 50 field goals and had 26 turnovers that A&M converted to 36 points.
Morris ended the first half with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to cap a 20-0 run for a 64-13 lead. A&M made 7 of 8 field goals in the four-minute stretch, while Northwestern missed six shots and had five turnovers that led to 10 A&M points.
The Aggies got rolling early, grabbing a 20-6 lead in just over five minutes by hitting all eight field goals. Northwestern attempted only six field goals, hitting a pair of 3s because of ballhandling woes with six turnovers.
PERFECTION
Texas A&M finished nonconference unbeaten for the first time. The 2008-09 and 2010-11 teams both went 12-1.
BIG PICTURE
Northwestern State is rebuilding under first-year head coach Anna Nimz who took over a team that was 7-22 last season, including 4-16 in Southland Conference. Monday’s game kicked off a five-game road trip for the Lady Demons.
UP NEXT
Northwestern, picked to finish last in the 13-team Southland Conference by its coaches, will open league play Saturday at Houston Baptist.
Texas A&M, picked to finish third in the Southeastern Conference behind fifth-ranked South Carolina and 13th-ranked Kentucky will open league play at home Thursday night against Tennessee.
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