Box Score
Bland scores season-high 25 points

GREENVILLE, November 28, 2008 – Over the first two games of the season when opponents made second half runs, it spelled doom for the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team.

It appears the Aggies have overcome those troubles. In their opening round game of the Lady Pirate Invitational, the Aggies fought off several Buffalo runs in the second half to earn an 85-76 win at East Carolina’s Minges Coliseum. The win advances the Aggies to the championship game against East Carolina Sunday night at 7 from Minges.

Amber Bland led the Aggies with 25 points on 11-for-15 shooting. Ta’Wuana Cook added 21 points, seven assists and four steals. The Aggies improved to 2-2 on the season.

“They should never have to be reminded about what happened to them at Winthrop,’’ said head Patricia Cage-Bibbs, who saw her team outscored 53-30 in the second half against Ole Miss during an opening round game at the Winthrop Tournament. The next night at the tournament she witnessed the Aggies give up an 11-point second-half lead to Winthrop.

“We were presented with another opportunity to prove we can close a team out,’’ she continued. “I told them, ‘Don’t let this opportunity get away from you.’”

Each time the Bulls tried to take the Aggies opportunity, they were met with a roadblock. The Aggies led 46-34 at the half. When Rachelle Matthys hit one of her eight 3-pointers for the game with 14:48 remaining, it cut the Aggies lead to 55-48.

Senior Brittanie Taylor-James quickly answered. She drove to the basket, scored and drew a foul from Jessica Fortman. Taylor-James converted the 3-point play to put the Aggies ahead by 10. Four straight points from Cook quickly moved the Aggies lead to 14 at 62-48 with 13:40 remaining.

Matthys would not make it easy for N.C. A&T. She hit another three with 9:46 remaining to again shrink the Aggies lead to under double figures at 65-56. Once again the Aggies halted the run by benefiting from a 3-point play as Cook saw an opening to the basket, took it, scored and was fouled by Brittany Hedderson. Another Cook layup moved the Aggies lead to 14 again, 70-56, with 9:08 to go.

The Bulls made a final push at the Aggies with 4 ½ minutes to go. A Kourtney Brown layup put the Bulls down nine, 79-70. But when Cook found a cutting Jaleesa Sams for layup followed by an Amber Bland spin move for a layup, the Bulls found themselves down 13 with four minutes to play.

“After seeing this team on film all week, we felt like we matched up well with them,’’ said Bibbs. “We knew they had several shooters on their team and that they passed the ball really well, but we knew if we played good defense, we could disrupt what they like to do on offense. Our young ladies came through tonight and I’m proud of the way they got after them on defense. If you let a team like that run their offense with out badgering them, they will pick you apart.”

The Bulls came into the game averaging 17.5 assists per game, while turning the ball less than 20 times per game. On Friday, the Aggies recorded 21 steals and forced the Bulls into 31 turnovers.

“When a team averages that many assists, it tells me they take a lot of good shots,’’ said Bibbs. “So we did a good job of getting in the passing lane and taking them out of their rhythm.”