CHICAGO, IL — No. 14 Texas A&M had its season come to a close in the NCAA Sweet 16 with a hard-fought 87-80 loss to No. 3 Notre Dame in a women’s basketball game at Wintrust Arena.
Chennedy Carter led the fourth-seeded Aggies (26-8) with 35 points—marking her fourth NCAA Tournament game with 30+ points, going shot-for-shot with top-seeded Notre Dame’s (33-3) Arike Ogumbowale, who finished with 34.
The Aggies tied the game at 69 on a put-back by Aja Ellison with just under seven minutes in the fourth quarter. The Fighting Irish responded with a 7-0 run, and held off the Aggies over the final stretch.
The game was a back-and-forth affair that featured 11 ties and 17 lead changes. Neither team led by more than nine points in the game.
Kayla Wells scored 18 points, and Ciera Johnson notched her 12th double double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
In 2018-19, the Aggies returned to the NCAA Tournament for the 14th consecutive season, and made the eighth Sweet 16 appearance in school history. At 26-8, the Aggies end the 2018-19 season with the program’s best record since 2010-11.
Looking forward to next season, the Aggies are the only Sweet 16 team slated to return all five starters. Texas A&M is scheduled to bring back over 96% of the team’s points, 94% of the team’s rebounds and 98% of the team’s assists.
NOTES
Texas A&M
· The Aggies conclude their 2018-19 campaign with a 26-8 record—the program’s best mark since 2010-11. Notre Dame advances to the Elite Eight with a record of 33-3
· The Aggies made their eighth Sweet 16 appearance and their 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018-19
· Texas A&M is the only Sweet 16 team slated to return all five starters in 2019-20
· The Aggies are scheduled to return over 96% of the team’s points, over 94% of the team’s rebounds and over 98% of the team’s assists.
· Texas A&M is 3-5 all-time in Sweet 16 games
· Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 383-159 in 16 seasons in Aggieland. He is 791-322 in his Hall of Fame career, which ranks seventh among active coaches in career wins
· Blair is 4-8 in NCAA Sweet 16 games, and 39-24 all-time in the NCAA Tournament
Chennedy Carter
· Scored 30+ points for the third time this season and the 11th time in her career. She has scored 30+ in four of six career NCAA Tournament games
· She has four of the five 30+ point NCAA Tournament games in Texas A&M history
· Her 35 points are the second-most by an Aggie in an NCAA Tournament game, trailing only her 37 against DePaul in the 2018 Second Round
· Scored 26+ points in all six of her career NCAA Tournament games
· Scored 20+ points for the eighth straight game that she has played, and the 23rd time this season. She extends her school record with her 47th career game of 20+ points
· Matched her career-high with seven 3-pointers
· Extended her Texas A&M record with her 39th consecutive game of scoring at least 10+ points
· She has scored 10+ points in 64 of her 65 career games. She scored eight in the other game
Kayla Wells
· Had her 28th game of 10+ points this season, including all five SEC and NCAA Tournament games
Ciera Johnson
· Had her second straight double double and her 12th of the season
· Scored in double figures for the 27th time this season, including all five games of the SEC and NCAA Tournaments, and the 29th time in her collegiate career
· Had her 12th game of 10+ rebounds this season and her second in the NCAA Tournament
