Eagles shoot 61 percent in the second half

 Box Score
BALTIMORE, January 20, 2007 – North Carolina A&T didn’t come into Saturday’s game with Coppin State at full strength, which is not something that helps against the two-time MEAC Champion.

 Coppin State increased its MEAC win streak to 36 with a 75-60 win over an Aggies team that didn’t have their full complement of players. in women’s basketball action at the Coppin Center.

 Amber Bland, who came into the game with flu-like symptoms, led the Aggies with 18 points and six rebounds. Freshman Lonise Coulter had one of her best games of the season with 13 points and seven boards, while Brittanie Taylor-James also finished in double figures with 14.

 “We were not completely healthy, but that’s no excuse,’’ said head Patricia Cage-Bibbs. “When you’re playing a team the caliber of Coppin you have to bring everything you have. There were times today where we didn’t do that.

 Not only was Bland not at her best and missed most of the first half, but the Aggies and the conference’s leading rebounder Lamona Smalley didn’t play either. It wasn’t, however, a lack of rebounding that did the Aggies in, it was Coppin State’s hot second-half shooting.

 Coulter opened the second half with a turnaround jumper that put the Aggies down only on five, 35-30. A 10-3 run would give the Eagles (10-6, 6-0) their biggest lead of the night at 43-33 with 14:50 to play.

 Taylor-James followed with two free throws and Amber Bland took an excellent pass from Ahmad Williams and scored on a layup to get the Aggies to within six at the 13:46 mark. Rashida Suber, the No. 2 scorer in the MEAC behind Bland, started to assert herself.

 Suber, who finished with 29 points on 11-for-20 shooting,  gave the Eagles a nine-point lead when she drove to the basket on a fastbreak, laid the ball up and was fouled. That lead grew to 50-39 on Suber jump shot with 11:29 to play. Shalamar Oakley’s layup pushed the lead to 13 before Amber Bland answered with a three to put the Aggies down 52-42 with 9:25 to play.

 But 23 seconds later, Suber found herself open in the corner again for a 3-pointer – one of six on for the senior – to put the Eagles up by 13 again. The Aggies never cut the lead under 10 again. The Aggies (9-8, 4-2) will try to end their two-game losing streak on Monday when they face Morgan State in Baltimore at 5:30 p.m.