WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
PREVIEW
The Game: North Carolina
A&T Aggies (9-12, 4-4) at Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (6-15, 3-5)
When: Saturday, February 4
at 2 p.m.
Where: Moore Gymnasium,
Daytona Beach, Fla.
Must See: More wins. The
Aggies look to continue adding to the current winning streak, both the one they
have for this season, and the one they have against the Wildcats. The Aggies have won the last six games
against the Wildcats, and have won their last two MEAC games. This will be the second meeting between these
two teams this season. In their first meeting, the Aggies won 69-54, behind 20
points and 10 rebounds from JaQuayla Berry, and 14 points apiece from Amber
Calvin and Nikia Gorham. Tracy King also
started that game for the Aggies. But
this contest will feature a freshman-heavy starting lineup as injuries to King
and Berry have placed those leading scorers on the sidelines. But A&T's young players have grown quite
a bit since Jan. 7. Aggies coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs said following their 57-49
win on Monday against Delaware State that the team is beginning to find their
stride. Bibbs is now five games away
from her 500th career game with eight regular season games
remaining.
Bethune-Cookman: The Aggies are 38-23
lifetime against Bethune-Cookman, and are 8-1 against the
Wildcats under Patricia Cage-Bibbs. The Wildcats are led by senior guard
Demetria Frank, who is the schools' all-time steals leader, and ranks fourth on
the all-time scoring list. Frank is averaging 10.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per
game. Frank was named the MEAC Co-Defensive Player of the Week on Jan. 2. Junior guard Jasmine Elum leads the team
with an average of 13.3 points per game. Bethune-Cookman is ninth in the MEAC
for scoring offense and sixth in scoring defense. They were selected to finish
seventh in the MEAC.
She's Heating Up: Sophomore Tiffanie
Adair garnered MEAC Rookie of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks, from Jan.
9-15 and Jan. 16-22. She is the second
Aggies player to win MEAC weekly honors twice in this season, along with sophomore
Tracy King (MEAC Defensive Player of the Week).
On Jan. 28 against UMES, Adair posted a double-double with 15 points and
10 boards to lead the team. She posted
her second consecutive double-double with 19 points and 10 boards on Monday
against Delaware State. She holds the
highest scoring average and rebounding average among all A&T first-year
players this season, at 5.9 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. She has started the last five games, and has
totaled 74 points and 45 rebounds in that span.
