Thomas makes her first career start

Box Score
BLACKSBURG, Va., December 30, 2008 – The same thing that gave the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team a double-digit lead against Lafayette Tuesday night in the consolation game of the Hokie Harwood Classic almost became the same thing that cost them a victory.

Despite struggling to hit free throws late in the game, the Aggies survived a late Leopards rally to win 65-63 at Virginia Tech’s Cassell Coliseum. Ta’Wuana Cook led the Aggies with 17 points, while Brittanie Taylor-James and Amber Bland added 16 and 15 points respectively.

The Aggies led 57-45 with 7:10 remaining in the game thanks to a Taylor-James layup. But with 1:56 to play, Cristin Zovocki’s 3-pointer pulled the Leopards to within four at 61-57. Zavocki had a chance to cut the lead to one seconds later with another 3-pointer, but saw her shot rim out.

Again, it was Taylor-James who came up with a big shot as she used a pump fake and a dribble move to free herself for a jump shot that gave the Aggies a 63-57 advantage. Zavocki answered with another layup to trim the lead to four. The Aggies, who did hit 18 of 26 free throws on Tuesday, would begin to miss some crucial free throws down the stretch.

Cook made one of two free throws with 21 seconds remaining to give the Aggies a 64-59 lead. After Elizabeth Virgin hit a jumper for the Leopards, an Aggies turnover gave the Leopards the ball back with 13 seconds remaining. LaKeisha Wright took a pass from Jessica Spicer in the lane to score and put the Leopards down one, 64-63.

The Leopards fouled Bland to stop the clock with 11 seconds left on it. Bland hit one of two free throws, giving the Leopards a chance to either tie or win the game. But instead of shooting the ball from the top of the key, Spicer decided to pass the ball as time was running out. The extra pass cost the Leopards a chance to at least take a game-winning or tying shot as time expired.

“I have to be honest, I’m not happy with the way we played for this whole tournament, but I am happy to come out of here with a win,’’ said N.C. A&T women’s head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. “We are a work in progress.”

Bibbs said she and her staff are still looking for the lineups and combinations that work best for the 2008-09 edition of the women’s basketball team. They started by throwing a few wrinkles in the starting lineup. The Aggies started two freshmen – Tierra Thomas and Nakia DeBlanc – mainly for defensive purposes. But they also had to make the change because starting forward Jaleesa Sams sat out Tuesday’s game.

The defensive lineup appeared to have some success. N.C. A&T did record 13 steals against the Leopards after having just five against Liberty the night before. In her first career start, Thomas played strong defensively, scored six points, grabbed seven rebounds and had two steals.

Offensively, the Aggies still turned to Taylor-James. With the Aggies leading 36-34 with 15:31 remaining in the game, Taylor-James hit six straight points over the next two minutes to give the Aggies a 42-35 advantage. The Aggies would hit six consecutive free throws, and use a Bland 3-pointer and layup in a four-minute stretch to give them their first double-digit lead of the game at 53-43.

“We shot a lot of 3-pointers yesterday and didn’t hit too many of them,’’ said Bibbs, who saw her team go 5-for-7 from 3-point range Tuesday after going 3-for-18 on Monday.

“We wanted to attack the basket tonight because we shoot free throws so well. You want to play to your strengths. The free throws got us ahead, but we did not do as well as we would like hitting free throws with the game on the line. The kids really have to understand the importance of knocking down those free throws late in the game.”

The Aggies (6-4) head to the University of Kentucky to play the Wildcats New Year’s Day at 7 p.m.