COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Joyce Edwards had 28 points and Tessa Johnson added 19 and tied a career high with five 3-pointers to help No. 3 South Carolina outlast Texas A&M 71-56 Monday night.
South Carolina (22-2, 8-1 Southeastern Conference) led by as many as 16 points, but was clinging to a five-point lead when Edwards scored eight points in a 9-0 run that made it 67-53 with less than two minutes remaining.
Johnson made her first four 3-point attempts and made all five of her 3s in the first half. She finished 5 of 11 from long range.
The Aggies had made six free throws in the fourth, but missed their first 10 shots of the quarter before Janae Kent made a 3-pointer with 90 seconds remaining.
Ny’ceara Pryor had 14 points for Texas A&M (8-10, 1-8), which lost its sixth straight. The Aggies performed much better on Monday night than they had in recent contests when they dropped four of their previous five games by 25 points or more.
Salese Blow made two free throws for A&M seconds into the fourth quarter and added two more with about eight minutes left to get Texas A&M within 55-51. Alicia Tournebize made South Carolina’s first point of the quarter when she hit the second of two free throws with 7½ minutes remaining.
The first field goal of the quarter didn’t come until a jump shot by Edwards extended the lead to 58-51 about a minute later.
The Gamecocks were up by 16 with about 2½ minutes left in the third quarter before the Aggies scored the next seven points, highlighted by a 3 from Pryor, to get within 53-44. South Carolina made two free throws after that before a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Pryor cut the lead to 55-47 entering the fourth.
Up next
South Carolina: Hosts Mississippi State on Thursday night.
Texas A&M: Hosts No. 21 Alabama on Sunday.
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