WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PREVIEW

The Game: North Carolina A&T Aggies (10-12, 5-4 MEAC) at Florida A&M (16-5, 9-0 MEAC)

When: Monday, February 6 at 5:30 p.m.

Where: Al Lawson Center, Tallahassee, Fla.

Must See: Countdown to 500 and .500.  The Aggies have won three straight games, and are over .500 in conference, and are looking to get back to .500 overall.  Head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs is also inching closer to becoming the first head coach to win all 500 games at the head of a DI HBCU program.  She is four wins away with seven games remaining in the regular season.  She will join James Sweat of Norfolk State as the only other MEAC coach in the 500 club.  Sweat won some of his 500+ games when NSU was a Division II school, but won his milestone game after NSU moved to MEAC. The Aggies are looking to continue to improve on the road. They are 2-3 in road conference games. This will be the second meeting between the Aggies and Rattlers in the regular season.  In their first meeting, the Aggies lost a close contest, 70-68.  The Aggies missed their 3-point attempt to win the game with 11 seconds remaining.  Sophomore Tracy King had 17 points and seven boards, and Nikia Gorham posted 14 points with eight rebounds. JaQuayla Berry added 12 points and eight boards.  

Florida A&M: The Aggies are 8-3 against FAMU under Patricia Cage-Bibbs. The Rattlers are led by senior guard Antonia Bennett, who is averaging 19.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.  Bennett is first in scoring and second in rebounding in the MEAC, and ranks 25th in the nation in scoring and 28th in rebounding. Florida A&M is first in the MEAC in scoring offense, averaging 72.1 points per game, but they are seventh in the conference in scoring defense, allowing an average of 64.3 points per game.  Bennett and senior guard Tameka McKelton were both selected to the preseason All-MEAC team, and FAMU was selected to finish fourth in the conference, behind the Aggies.  The Rattlers have won 13 in a row.

She's Heating Up: Freshman Ariel Bursey had a solid night on Saturday, collecting five points, seven rebounds, five assists, a block and a team-high three steals in 36 minutes.  She has collected 52 points in the last nine games, and has also contributed 32 rebounds, 15 assists and 11 steals in that span.