Aggies place six players in double figures

Box Score
GREENSBORO, February 16, 2008 – The North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team won again with a 105-79 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore Saturday afternoon at Irvin-Corbett Court. Once again the Aggies looked dominant against a MEAC team in the top half of the standings. And once again, the Aggies made it difficult for a team to figure out which Aggie to slow down as they placed six players in double figures led Ta’Wuana Cook’s 28 points and five assists.

The Aggies (18-5, 11-0) played so well, even the normally hard-to-please head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs hinted for the first time this season that the 2007-08 Aggies might be a pretty good team.

“I don’t think there is any question we are hard to defend,’’ said Bibbs. “Last year people felt like if they stopped Amber Bland we would struggle. But this year we have people who can score, people who can finish, people who can make things happen and I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Saturday’s game showed how appreciative Bland is to have help. The Ohio native finished with 20 points, a career-high nine assists and no turnovers as the Aggies compiled 24 assists as a team. For the second straight game the Aggies shot better than 50 percent thanks in part to a second-half in which they shot 61.9 percent.

The Aggies hot second-half shooting helped them break open a game in which the Hawks trailed by just five – 39-34 – at the half. In fact, the Aggies led by just four 4 ½ minutes into the second half. Then the Aggies started to execute their running game. Amber Bland stole a pass from the Hawks’ Queenique Tyler and found a streaking Jalessa Sams for a layup.

On UMES’ next possession, Amber Bland stole the ball again and found Cook on an outlet pass that led to another fastbreak layup. After a Chena Parker layup made it 52-46, Brittanie Taylor-James hit a short jumper from the corner followed by another transition basket from Bland.

After Bland completed the 3-point play, the Aggies led 57-46 as they turned a four-point game into an 11-point game in a little more than a minute thanks to transition basket. The Aggies transition baskets helped them score a season-high 60 points in the paint and they recorded 20 fastbreak points.

“They are very good at executing their offense, so we didn’t want them to do that,’’ said Bibbs. “We wanted them to hurry up and have to make a decision sooner than they want. I thought we were a little slow in our rotations on defense first half, but I really thought we sped them up in the second half.”

The Aggies wore pink uniforms on Saturday to raise awareness about breast cancer as a part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's Think Pink initiative. The win puts the Aggies a step closer to claiming their first MEAC regular-season title since the 1989-90 season and a No. 1 seed in the upcoming MEAC Tournament. If the Aggies can beat defending MEAC tournament champion Delaware State on Monday, the only team standing between them and the top seed in the tournament is Hampton.

If the Aggies win on Monday, Hampton, who plays a non-conference game against Winston-Salem State on Monday, still has one tiebreaker available to them. The Pirates, who will be four games back with four games remaining if the Aggies win on Monday, must beat the Aggies by 33 when N.C. A&T travels to Hampton on March 3.

Therefore, a win on Monday all but wraps up a No. 1 tournament seed for the Aggies in Raleigh from March 10-15. A win Monday and a win on Monday, Feb. 25 against S.C. State wraps up the regular-season crown.

“I always try to tell my ladies, regardless of where you are you, are still not where you need to be,” said Bibbs.