Smalley comes off the bench to score 16

Box Score
BALTIMORE, January 12, 2009 – What may have been the most telling moment in an otherwise dominating performance by the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team on Monday occurred at the 6:35 mark of the second half. Aggies senior guard Amber Bland stepped in front of a Shinaa Woods pass for a steal, and sprinted down court to finish off an easy layup with a huge smile on her face.

Yes, Coppin State superstar guards Shalamar Oakley and Rashida Suber’s college careers are over, therefore, the Eagles team the Aggies beat 75-57 at the Coppin Center Monday night doesn’t look too similar to the Eagles team that beat N.C. A&T in the MEAC Tournament championship game last season.

But the jersey still said Coppin State. Bland’s smile was just a small sense of satisfaction after what was a heartbreaking loss to the Eagles in March.

“At that moment it was kind of a relief to know we come in here and got back some of the pride they took from us last year,’’ said Bland, who was a part of the Aggies 72-70 loss to the Eagles in the MEAC title game, in which Suber hit a layup with seconds remaining to earn the win.

“(Head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs) kept telling us it wasn’t a revenge game, but it kind of was,’’ Bland continued. “No, it’s not the same as beating them with Suber and Oakley, but it still felt good.”

Brittanie Taylor-James, coming off of her first MEAC Player of the Week honor, had another stellar game with 22 points and five rebounds on 8-for-14 shooting. Bland added 16 points, and another player who certainly remembers last season’s championship game – Lamona Smalley – had 16 points and six rebounds off the Aggies bench. 

“It wasn’t revenge or anything,’’ said Smalley, who fouled out of the title game during crunch time. “We just wanted to win to get that weight off our backs. We are picked to win it, but they have been the standard in the conference for a long time. We wanted to take the pressure off of us and put it on them.”

The Aggies put enough pressure on the Eagles to force them into 28 turnovers, an obvious sign the Eagles miss the two former players of the year in Suber and Oakley. Another sign of their absence was the Eagles’ woeful 32.4 percent shooting. A good portion of the Eagles offense came from their 24 offensive rebounds that translated into 22 second chance points.

Whitney Cunningham, who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, kept the Eagles relatively close. But Taylor-James hit back-to-back pull up jumpers to give the Aggies a 45-31 lead with 15:24 to play and the blowout was on.

The Aggies would score eight more points during the 12-0 run to put the Eagles away. Smalley had four of those points. “I can’t say Lamona was motivated by what happened last year, but she certainly gave us today what we have been looking to see from her all season,’’ said Bibbs.

The Eagles suffered their worse conference loss since losing to the Aggies by 21 in 2003. Although the Aggies were able to beat their nemesis from a year ago, they know there are more games to play.  The Aggies (9-5, 3-0) will host Maryland-Eastern Shore Saturday night at Corbett Sports Center at 2 p.m.

“I was happy to see us play well and I was happy for this win,’’ said Bibbs. “They out-rebounded us, but this is a great rebounding team. And we showed toughness tonight against a great rebounding team.”