Aggies win eighth straight at home

Box Score
GREENSBORO, February 10, 2007 – It wasn’t a masterpiece.

But the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team’s 73-61 win did the trick in terms of ending a two-game losing streak, and remaining viable in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference race. The win coupled with Florida A&M and Hampton losses, puts the Aggies in a second-place tie with Florida A&M in the MEAC Standings with the Rattlers coming to town Monday.

The Ratters handed the Aggies their first conference loss earlier this season. The Aggies and the Rattlers are 3 ½ games behind frontrunner Coppin State with each team only having six games remaining.

“We’re still growing up,’’ said head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. “Any time you can protect your home court it’s a great thing, but with the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in our conference coming in here along with a tough Morgan State team, we’re going to have to play better.”

Amber Bland led the Aggies with 23 points, while Ta’Wuana Cook added 16 points and Brittanie Taylor-James finished with 12 points. N.C. A&T (13-10, 8-4) earned its first season sweep of an opponent with the win. The Aggies shot 50 percent for the fourth time this season, and improved to 4-0 when shooting 50 percent or better. But the Wildcats out-rebounded the Aggies 42-30, which kept them in the ballgame. Cassandra Calcagno’s spin move in the lane put the Wildcats down 52-46.

The Aggies responded with an 8-0 run capped off by a Shantar Waddell rebound, who turned to passed the ball to Cook, who in turn threw a beautiful outlet pass to Ahmad Williams for a layup and a 60-46 lead.

The Wildcats were able to work the lead under 10 with 2:21 remaining when Monique Bassett grabbed an offensive put back to make it 64-55. Taylor-James ended any thoughts of a rally with a strong drive to the basket to put the Aggies ahead by double figures again.  

“I thought we did some things better tonight than we have previously, but there still so much room for improvement as we get closer to the tournament.”

Calcagno led the Wildcats (4-19 1-11) with 18 points and seven rebounds on 8-for-10 shooting, while Natasha Ferguson added 11 points and nine boards. After playing Florida A&M on Monday at 4 p.m., from Corbett, the Aggies host Coppin State on Saturday at 2 p.m.