LADY AGGIES FALL TO BEARS, GLOVER BREAKS RECORD

Box Score
BALTIMORE, Md., February 20, 2006 – As pleasing as Florida was for the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team, Baltimore was just as disappointing.

 The Aggies went 0-for in Baltimore as Morgan State defeated the Aggies 73-68 Monday night, putting the Aggies in a scramble to move out of the play-in game realm in March’s MEAC Tournament in Raleigh.

 “We need to be consistent the rest of the way through,’’ said head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. “I think if we come out with the same effort we had in Florida or even at Coppin State, we can be successful. If we’re inconsistent, then it’s going to hurt us.”

 Bianca Johnson led the Aggies with 22 points and eight rebounds. Ahmad Williams added 12 points, all coming in the first half.

 The bright spot was Glover breaking the school’s all-time steals record since the NCAA started taking into account Aggie statistics in 1982. She had 11 points and four steals on the night. She has already broken the all-time assists record and single-game scoring record this season.

 The Aggies traveled to Florida a week ago and defeated Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman, and appeared headed for one of the remaining top four seeds (Coppin State has clinched the regular-season title) of the tournament, which will exclude them from the play-in round.

 The Aggies even had top seed Coppin State on the ropes on Saturday before miscues hurt them late. On Monday, the Aggies late-game Achilles was missed shots. N.C. A&T struggled to put the ball in the basket late and even though Morgan State didn’t shoot any better, they took advantage of second-chance points.

 N.C. A&T (7-16, 7-7) led 56-53 with 8:50 remaining in the game. The Aggies connected on three of their final 11 shots the rest of the way, leaving the Bears an opportunity to even the season series.

 Sarissa Gaskins put the Bears ahead 63-58 with mid-range jumper with 3:41 to play. A free throw from Shareka Glover and two from Johnson cut the Bears lead to 63-61 with 2:17 to go.

 The Aggies had a chance to tie the game after Glover stole the ball from Whitney Johnson, but an Aggies turnover gave Morgan State the ball back. For the next 34 seconds, the Aggies would play excellent defense against Morgan State. But as the shot clock expired, Dominisha Britton swished a three from the corner with 1:09 remaining to give the Bears a 66-61.

 Britton added a pair of free throws thirty seconds later to seal the win for the Bears (5-18, 5-9). Johnson led the Bears with 18 points, while Latricia Jones added 14 points and 24 rebounds, 10 coming on the offensive end.

 The Aggies will try to get back on track Saturday when they return home to play Norfolk State at 2 p.m.