Taylor-James, Bland and Cook combined for 62 points

Box Score
GREENSBORO, January 6, 2007 – Freshman point guard Tweet Cook came in with daunting task of replacing the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball program’s all-time leader in assists and steals in Shareka Glover. But 13 games into her career, Cook has proven to be an adequate replacement.

On Saturday, she finished with 24 points, five assists and five rebounds to lead the Aggies to a 74-59 conference win over Maryland-Eastern Shore. Amber Bland added her first career double-double  with 25 points and 11 rebounds, while Brittanie Taylor-James added 13 points to help the Aggies (7-6) to their first 2-0 MEAC start since the 1990-91 season.

“Tweet has truly been a pleasant surprise at the point guard position,’’ said head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. “She still does some things that remind you she is a freshman, but she played a smart game tonight and provided us some offense when we needed a basket.”

N.C. A&T jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game and built their lead to as many as 22 in the first half before taking a 39-24 lead into the locker room.

The Hawks played the Aggies even over the first six minutes of the second half, and even cut the lead to 12 on a Candyce Jeter three with 13:59 remaining. Cook took over from that point, however. She answered Jeter’s three with one from the deep corner, and pushed the lead to 18 at 57-39 with a 3-pointer with 13:40 to play following a Hawks turnover

Bland and Taylor-James followed with back-to-back transition layups to put the Aggies in front 62-41. The Hawks never seriously threatened the Aggies again as they fell to 4-10 overall and 1-2 in the MEAC. Jeter led the Hawks with 14 points, and April McBride added a double-double of her own with 13 points and 13 rebounds.

“It’s always great when you take care of business at home,’’ said Bibbs, whose team is 5-1 inside Corbett this season. “It was great to see us active on the boards. But I would love to see my team hit more of their free throws.”

Ahmad Williams, who made her first start in two games, finished with eight points and 10 rebounds, while Bland scored 20 or more for the seventh time this season. The Aggies return to action on Monday as they host Howard at 6 p.m.