The stats weren't good -- 3 of 13 from the field, 1 of 5 from 3-point range -- but Wade Taylor still ended up with 12 points and 4 assists as No. 11 Texas A&M dispatched LSU 68-57 Saturday night at Reed Arena. Taylor also made five of six free throws, a rarity on a night when the Aggies only made nine of 21 free throws.

"He's obviously a big different make," forward Solomon Washington said. "We know when he's playing teams have to do their defensive style differently, on account of the type of player he is."

Coach Buzz Williams said Taylor received the green light to play just moments before the mandatory SEC injury report was released at 7 p.m. central time Friday.

"We just kind of follow whatever the doctors and (trainer) Eddie (Binion) have as far as the protocol relative to whatever the specificity of the injury is. He he has made progress since the Sunday after Texas, but it's been marginal relative to the protocol that we were following," Williams said. "And he's kind of following his own itinerary, different than us, but I think he's made good progress. He was able to practice completely yesterday, and then we have to turn in the mandatory report, yeah, mandatory report at seven o'clock. And so after practice, he went through post practice evaluations, and then I met with he and Eddie at 6:30 yesterday."

Taylor played 24 minutes Saturday night, trailing only Zhuric Phelps (30 minutes) and Henry Coleman III (28 minutes) in playing time.

Texas A&M's women's basketball team is back over .500 for the season after a late charge allowed the Aggies to rally past Georgia for a 68-63 win.

The Aggies (9-8, 2-3 SEC) outscored Georgia (9-10, 1-4 SEC) 18-5 over the last 4:03 of the game. Aicha Coulibaly scored 10 points during the run and ended up with 14 for the game. Georgia led 58-52 before Lauren Ware's jumper started the rally.

The Aggies didn't take the lead for good until just 22 seconds remained, with Coulibaly made a layup and was fouled to break a 60-60 tie. She then intercepted the Georgia inbounds pass and laid it in five seconds later.

The Texas A&M women’s tennis team began its title defense Saturday with a 7-0 sweep of Prairie View at the Mitchell Tennis Center Saturday.

The second-ranked Aggies didn’t even lose a set to the Panthers, either in singles or doubles.

Nicole Khirin (ranked 15th nationally) won her match against Ainara Rodriguez 6-0, 6-3, while Mia Kupres beat Andrea Blanca 6-1, 6-0.

Lucciana Perez beat Daniela Garcia 6-2, 6-3 in number three singles, while Daria Smetannikov (ranked 102nd) routed Amaya Bobadilla 6-0, 6-0.

Lexington Reed beat Joanne Fernandes 6-1, 64, while Jeanette Mireles didn’t give up a game to Precious Ugochukwu in a 6-0, 6-0 beating.

The doubles duo of Kupres and Smetannikov won their match 6-1, while Khirin and Mireles cruised to a 6-0 win.

“Overall, today was very good for our team. There's always a little bit of nerves in the first match of the season, so its nice to get that first match under our belts. We really went out there and took care of business from the start,” coach Mark Weaver said.

The best pole vaulter in the nation resides in Aggieland, as A&M’s Aleksander Solovev broke a school record at the Corky Classic this weekend.

Solovev, a native of Moscow, broke the record held by U.S. Olympian Jacob Wooten with a clearance of 18 feet, 10 inches. Solovev has won both of his first two events in his collegiate career.

Distance runner Luca Santorum broke the 1,000-meter school record of Mike Hummel, which was set in 2000, with a a time of 2:21.93 on Saturday. Kennedy Wade broke the women’s 600-yard school record one event later, running a time of 1:20.88, which was set by Sandy Wooten in 2010. Wade ended up coming in second overall in the event.

Three Aggies are heading to the NFC and AFC Championship games, as Von Miller of the Bills and Ainias Smith and Braden Mann of the Eagles advanced over the weekend.

Miller only had one tackle, but also had a 39-yard fumble return after Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson was sacked early in the second quarter. Miller returned the ball to the Ravens' 24-yard-line and the Bills scored a touchdown four plays later. That turnoer would prove to be critical as Buffalo escaped with a 27-25 win after Baltimore's Mark Andrews droped a two-point conversion try with 1:33 remaining.

Baltimore's Nnamdi Madubuike had seven tackles and half a sack for the Ravens.

The Bills will travel to Kansas City to play the Chiefs for the AFC Championship next weekend.

Smith did not play, but Mann punted four times for an average of 50 yards in a driving blizzard in the Eagles' 28-22 win over the L.A. Rams. More importantly, Mann made three tough holds in the frigid conditions on three field goals that ended up being the difference in the game.

Defensive tackle Bobby Brown had four tackles for the Rams.

The Eagles will host Washington for the NFC Championship after the Commanders blasted the Detroit Lions -- led by Aggies Dan Campbell and Aaron Glenn -- 45-31 Saturday night in Detroit.