Pointer, Cherry help LSU beat No. 15 A&M women again, 59-58

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Khayla Pointer scored nine of her 18 points in the fourth quarter and Jailin Cherry hit two free throws with 4.3 seconds left and LSU beat No. 15 Texas A&M for the second time, pulling out a 59-58 victory on Sunday.

After Cherry’s free throws made it 59-55, Kayla Wells hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2.1 seconds left. Cherry was fouled before any time went off the block and she missed both free throws but Faustine Aifuwa grabbed the offensive rebound to clinch the game.

Aifuwa scored 18 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds to help the Tigers (16-5, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) overcome the loss of Ayana Mitchell with a left knee injury late in the first half. Mitchell, who had two rebounds to surpass 900 for her career, got tangled up with an Aggie going for a rebound and left the game at 2:16 of the second quarter with LSU leading 26-17. Mitchell averages 14.4 points and 9.1 rebounds and was second in the nation shooting 68.7%.

Wells and Aaliyah Wilson scored 18 points apiece for the Aggies and N’dea Jones added 12 points and 12 rebounds. Wilson hit a half-court shot at the end of the third quarter for a 43-42 lead after trailing 26-19 at the half.

Chennedy Carter sprained her ankle in Texas A&M’s (18-4, 6-3) 57-54 loss to LSU on Jan. 9 and is still out. The Aggies lost their next game but had won four straight since then.

LSU has four wins against Top 15 teams this season.

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