Bland becomes Aggies No. 2 scorer all-time

Box Score
GREENSBORO, February 21, 2009 – In the world of college basketball, coaches are constantly recruiting in an effort to make their teams better. In the process of building a program, there are players who see their playing time decrease.

North Carolina A&T senior Ahmad Williams was one of those players until Saturday afternoon. Williams made the most of her first start since March 8, 2007 by scoring 17 points and grabbing six rebounds on 7-for-9 shooting to lead the N.C. A&T women’s basketball team to an 84-46 win over Winston-Salem State in front of a packed house at Corbett Sports Center.

“Coach always says, ‘You never know when you’re going to be called on,’” said Williams, who had her best scoring output since scoring 19 at S.C. State as a freshman. “On this team you always have to be prepared.”

Williams is unique to Patricia Cage-Bibbs because Williams is the only four-year player on the Aggies roster. In fact, Williams arrived at N.C. A&T with Bibbs in 2005. She is the only recruit remaining from Bibbs’ first Aggies team, which is perhaps fitting since both she and Bibbs are Louisiana natives. 

Over the first two years of her career, Williams started 40 of the first 58 games she played as an Aggie. Williams scored 398 points during that period. But as others begin to emerge, Williams saw her minutes decline. Coming into Saturday’s game, she had played in 14 games and averaged 5.5 minutes in those contests.

But injuries to power forwards Jaleesa Sams and Shantar Waddell opened the door for Williams. So did monster.

The Aggies have a monster drill in practice that requires players to score three quick baskets before getting off the floor. Offensive rebounding is important in winning the drill and according to Bibbs no one handles that drill better than Williams. There was plenty of evidence on Saturday to prove that is true. Williams came out aggressive early, earning two opportunities to complete 3-point plays.

One of those opportunities came after she grabbed an offensive board and put back that gave the Aggies a 16-15 lead at the 11:58 mark of the first half.  The Aggies never trailed again.

“I didn’t want Ahmad to do anything out of character,’’ said Bibbs. “I wanted her to get in there and grab those rebounds because she has two great scorers (Amber Bland and Brittanie Taylor-James) around her. And Ahmad will play defense, which is an added plus.”

After Rene Rector’s free throw pulled the Rams to within one at 23-22 with 7:20 remaining in the first half, Lamona Smalley sparked a 13-0 Aggies run in which she scored four points during the run. Taylor-James capped the run with a 3-pointer that gave the Aggies a 36-22 lead.

The Aggies cruised from there, winning their 18^th straight game at home to improve to 19-6 on the season. Taylor-James added 16 points and Smalley finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Amber Bland’s 11 points helped her move into second place on the Aggies all-time scoring list. Bland has 1,501 career points making her and Malveata Johnson the only two Aggie players in school history to score more than 1,500 career points. Bland did her damage in three seasons as an Aggie.

Bland and the Aggies will be back in action Monday night at 6 p.m., against S.C. State. It will be the Aggies’ Pink Zone Game. N.C. A&T will wear pink uniforms to show support for finding a breast cancer cure.