Box Score
Taylor-James named MVP

GREENVILLE, November 29, 2008 – Don’t invite the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team over for a Thanksgiving weekend.

The Aggies (3-2) aren’t very good guest. For the second straight season, the Aggies won a Thanksgiving weekend tournament on someone else’s home floor. This time is what the Lady Pirate Invitational played at East Carolina’s Minges Coliseum as the Aggies defeated ECU 72-53.

The rudest visitors throughout the weekend were the Aggies two outstanding senior performers Brittanie Taylor-James and Amber Bland. Taylor-James led the Aggies with a career-high 28 points on 10-for-10 shooting from the free throw line. For her efforts, she earned tournament MVP honors by scoring 41 points and grabbing 13 rebounds over two games.

Bland was named to the all-tournament team as well. On Saturday night, Bland scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with her five steals. For the tournament, Bland scored 42 points, pulled down 20 rebounds and had an impressive 11 steals.

“Amber and Brittanie are well aware this is it for them,’’ said head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. “This is their last chance at a championship, and they’re playing like it. I think you’re going to continue to see this from them. They’re not worried about who gets the glory. Those two kids have come together for a common goal.  That’s a great thing for me to see because the other kids on this team are going to follow their lead.”

It was not all about offensive numbers for the Aggies. In fact, the Aggies used their speed and quickness on the defensive end to frustrate a bigger Pirates team that featured eight players taller than 6-foot. Two of those players were 6-5. The Aggies were made even smaller when 6-2 freshman center Nakia DeBlanc could not play because of an injury.

Despite the Pirates’ size advantage, the Aggies were able to keep the ball out of the post by sprinting into the passing lanes or beating the bigger Pirates down the floor. When the Pirates did get the ball down low, the faster Aggies swarmed to the basketball to force turnovers.

The Pirates shot just 35 percent from floor and were just 4-for-21 from 3-point range. ECU turned the ball over 24 times as the Aggies compiled 15 steals on the night and 31 steals for the tournament.

“We saw that they were big, but didn’t possess a lot of speed,’’ said Bibbs, who was astonished that her team was able to out-rebound the Pirates 51-32. “Even though we were undersized, we know that rebounding isn’t always all about height. We told the ladies to use their athleticism to beat them down the floor and to beat them into position for block outs and loose balls. I’m proud of what we were able to do on the boards against this team.”

Bibbs was also impressed out how the Aggies were able to pull away despite not having starters Reisha Bullock and DeBlanc. Two more Aggie starters – Jaleesa Sams and Bland – played hurt most of the night.

Still, the Pirates were not able to score over the first five minutes of the second half. The Pirates slump allowed the Aggies to open the half on a 10-0 run for a 42-28 advantage. The Aggies really began to pull away with 12:36 remaining. Taylor-James had six points and Sams added four points in what turned out to be a 12-2 run that opened up a comfortable 58-35 Aggies lead with a little less than 10 minutes to go.

“We had some players hurting tonight,’’ said Bibbs. “But we didn’t let that stop us. Our kids still played at a high level and that’s what we need to reach our goals.”

The Aggies will go into enemy territory again on Wednesday night when they face nationally-ranked Auburn at 6 p.m. The Aggies return home on Saturday to play Norfolk State in both schools’ first conference game of the season. The tip is at 2 p.m.

“We had so much support tonight,’’ said Bibbs. “I was proud of the way the kids on the bench were cheering, and then when you looked up in the stands and saw all that Blue & Gold cheering for you at another school’s tournament, it was a tremendous feeling for us.”