No. 2 Texas A&M has escaped again. The Aggies are on Sweet 16 in a violent overtime run by Jordan Nixon to defeat No. 7 Iowa State by 84-82. Nixon also made a difficult attempt to tie at the end of the regulation and scored seven of the Aggies’ nine points in overtime.
The overtime period was the first time that the Aggies led the entire competition and lost by up to 12 points. It is the second time in tournament games as the SEC regular season champions have found themselves in a deep hole. They were almost the first # 2 seed to be defeated by a # 15 seed in a first round against Troy.
Nixon wins in OT
Nixon went out and punched a 3-point bar in overtime to put the Aggies into action. The next few minutes were frantic coming and going to Nixon’s final buckets.
She drew in 82 with 1:38 remaining and Texas A&M had a chance for an easy lead, but missed the opportunity in a transition basket pulling up to 3. The defense got up and held on to two stops, the last with five seconds he left while Nixon walked the entire length of the court.
She drove straight to the painting and pressed the bell.
Nixon scored 35 points, the game’s best mark, which also tied with Iowa’s Caitlin Clark at the top of the tournament in 2021. Nixon had 16 of 28 minutes of play, with seven assists, two rebounds, a steal and a block. His post-game interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe was perfect for March Madness.
Nixon has done this before. She made a running shot with less than a minute to go early this season to lift Texas A&M over a qualified Arkansas team.
Ciera Johnson scored 19 points for Texas A&M in 8 of 12 shots and Aaliyah Wilson added 11. N’dea Jones almost doubled with 14 rebounds, nine points and four blocks. The bench had just three points and two rebounds, all from junior Alex Morris.
Texas A&M forces overtime
The Aggies never took the lead in the fourth period, but reached one on Ciera Johnson’s tray, with 1:02 left. Ashley Joens, the Iowa State machine, responded by working for a difficult basket and winning the e-1 to push a one-point lead to four with 39 seconds remaining. After an Aggies tray by N’dea Jones, Joens hit two more free throws to keep up the pressure.
Nixon took a deep jump to pull Texas A&M within two again with 14 seconds still on the clock and made a hard drive for another with five seconds remaining which he tied.
The Aggies defense endured three inbound moves to end the game and force the extra time. Texas A&M will face third place, Arizona, who finished against 11th BYU in Sweet 16.
Iowa-controlled contest
The Cyclones controlled the game from the edge and looked towards Sweet 16 with a major turnaround. The Aggies were unable to contain Ashley Joens and were left behind by 10 in the beginning. It was a margin that the Cyclones maintained until the end of the fourth quarter.
Joens closed with 32 points, 18 rebounds and three assists. She became the fourth player of the Big 12 with 30 points and 15 rebounds in a tournament game since 2000. Joens joins Courtney Paris, who has done this twice for Oklahoma, and former Baylor stars Brittney Griner and Lauren Cox .
The state of Iowa built its initial advantage with six points out of three in seven attempts in the first quarter. They were 16 out of 30 (53.3 percent) at the end of the games, surpassing the team’s 35.8 percent mark for the year. The Cyclones controlled the plates, 50-38, but fought 24 turnovers. These can come into play at the end of the close contest and include some breaches of the shooting clock and thefts when they could have pushed the lead.
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