Box Score
NORFOLK, Va., December 1, 2007 – The North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team is off to its best start in school history thanks to its 68-39 win over Norfolk State Saturday night at Echols Hall.

But head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs knows that means very little with more than 20 games remaining on the schedule. Therefore, the coach played several different combinations, which led to a sloppier win than she would have liked.

Amber Bland led the Aggies with 16 points and five rebounds on 7-for-12 shooting from the field as she led the Aggies to their first conference win of the season. Ta’Wuana Cook added 15 points and five assists, while Lamona Smalley recorded her second career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Smalley also had six steals and was 5-for-9 from the floor.

“We have to see it,’’ said Bibbs. “We have to see who the eight or nine players are who are going to be able to help us out once we get into January, February and March. When you’re running in and out a lot of different combinations, you don’t look as crisp as you would like. But you get to find out who can help you. ”

The Aggies turned the ball over a season-high 28 times. They also shot just 64.3 percent from the foul line, an Achilles heel Bibbs says she wants to remedy in a hurry. But all those things become a lot less painful to correct when you’re on a five-game winning streak and you’re 6-1 record as you off to your best start in school history.

“I like the way we’re playing defensively,’’ said Bibbs. “Right now that is so important because we’re not quite where we need to be with our offense. There is so much of the season left, so we have time to get better and better.”

During the Aggies five-game winning streak, their defense has been smothering.  The five opponents the Aggies have defeated during the streak are shooting a combined 33.6 percent from the field and have turned the ball over 134 times.

The Aggies defense continued its stingy ways. They denied passing lanes and deflected passes that eventually led to them recording whopping 24 steals on the night. They forced the Spartans into 38 turnovers and turned those turnovers into half their scoring total – 34 points. There were times during the night when the Spartans had more turnovers than points.

The Aggies didn’t allow the Spartans their first field goal of the game until the 13:58 mark of the first half. The Spartans didn’t earn their first field goal of the second half until 13:56 mark.

When the Spartans did get their field goal of the game, the Aggies had already claimed a 12-2 lead. When Lonise Coulter completed a 3-point play to give the Aggies a 15-2 lead with 12:56 remaining in the first half, the rout was on. The Spartans never got the lead under double figures after the Aggies took a 10-0 lead at the 17:10 mark of the first half, and trailed 40-17 at the half.

Norfolk State was led Areya Walker, who had 16 points and nine rebounds. The Aggies now enter the ACC phase of their schedule with Virginia Tech coming up on Wednesday in Blacksburg. They also have a trip to Raleigh on Dec. 16 to take on N.C. State.

 “Competition is great,” said Bibbs. “Playing tough competition helps you. You put teams like that on your schedule because you want your players to see exactly where they stand with some of the better programs in the country. You better be ready to play because they will expose all your weaknesses.”