Bland scores a season-high 26 points

Box Score
GREENSBORO, December 19, 2007 – The North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team doesn’t know where it stands in the conference yet, but the Aggies do know they can compete with other mid-majors around the Southeast.

The Aggies forced Campbell into 37 turnovers and held the Fight Camels to 30.8 percent shooting on their way to a 66-41 win. It was the Aggies first win over the Camels since 1993. Amber Bland led the way with 26 points on 10-for-13 shooting. Freshman Jalessa Sams added 12 points, nine rebounds and four steals.

“I’m happy to get this win,’’ said head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. “We’ve brought in three tough non-conference opponents into our place and we’ve defeated two of them. That tells people we can compete with other schools our size.”

The Aggies (7-3) lost to Liberty, a team with multiple NCAA appearances recently, by four. But they defeated S.C. Upstate and the Camels at home, and they defeated UNC Asheville and Boston University on a neutral floor.

The win over the Camels came with a few bumps. The Aggies were out-rebounded and they turned the ball over 17 times in the first half. Despite that, the Aggies still led by 11 at the half thanks to 55.2 percent shooting.

But the Aggies ran into a rough spell to open the second half. The Aggies started the half 1-for-9 from the floor, which allowed the Camels to cut the Aggies lead to 42-37 with 10:43 to play. Bland, who came into the game a combined 4-for-19 from the floor in her previous two games, took over the game for N.C. A&T.

Bland scored 12 points during a 14-2 Aggies run that helped the Aggies take a 56-39 lead with 3:30 remaining.

“We love it when Amber is aggressive offensively,’’ said Bibbs. “She has the ability to take over games with her offense and her defense. She really came to play in the second half.”

The Aggies will take the next week-and-half off to celebrate the Christmas Holiday before traveling to College Station, Texas to face nationally-ranked Texas A&M on Dec. 30. Four days later they open the New Year at nationally-ranked Baylor.

“The way we look at we’re 7-3 with a team that is still fairly young,’’ said Bibbs. “Are there things we need to work on? Sure. But it’s a lot better to work on those things we’re you’re 7-3.”