Lady Aggie Basketball

LADY AGGIES FIGHT ADVERSITY, RALLY TO BEAT NORFOLK STATE
 

Junior guard Shareka Glover scores 16 second-half points

NORFOLK, Va., February 14, 2005 – N.C. A&T guard Shareka Glover clinched her stomach most of the second half in pain. Center Tia Richardson left the game with an injured hand. And the Lady Aggies have three other players out for the season with injuries.
Despite all the bad news, the Lady Aggies still has a chance to earn a bye in next month’s MEAC tournament. They took a step closer in that direction by overcoming a 15-point second-half deficit to beat Norfolk State 70-63 at Echols Hall.
The Lady Aggies improved to 7-15 overall and 6-7 in the MEAC as they remain a game out of a fifth place spot that will earn them a bye at the conference tournament in Richmond.
“I really don’t think these girls know how good they can be,’’ said N.C. A&T women’s basketball coach Saudia Roundtree, who is one win away from her career high in wins – eight. “I think that is why we keep coming out here and falling behind early. We don’t believe we’re a good basketball team yet. When they realize that, then we’re really going to take off.”
Monday night’s game marked the second time in three games the Aggies have overcome double-digit second-half deficits. Against Morgan State last Thursday, they came from 13 down in the second half to win by four.
An Areya Walker layup on Monday gave the Lady Spartans their biggest lead of the ball game at 41-26 with 17:04 remaining. The lead stood at 14 two minutes later until a Shareka Glover layup sparked a 9-0 Lady Aggies run to make it 45-40 with 13:02 to play.
“We had a feeling once we got to under 10 with more than 10 minutes still on the clock, we had a chance,’’ said Glover who finished with 21 points and four assists. Sixteen of her points came in the second half. “Our pressure was really getting to them.”
Glover, who took a shot to the stomach as she went for a loose ball early in the second half, made the gutsiest play of the night. She drove to the basket in pain and scored while being knocked down.
Glover completed the 3-point play to pull the Aggies to within four, 51-47. Two Yanumbe Sherman floaters in the lane and a LaKeisha Williams free throw gave the Aggies their first lead of the night with 7:18 remaining.
The two teams went back and forth for the next 5 ½ minutes. Glover drove to the basket to tie the game at 61. Latasha Watlington then stole the Lady Spartans’ inbounds pass and her missed layup was followed by Dawn Newsome for a two-point N.C. A&T lead.
Seconds later Newsome would earn the Lady Aggies second straight steal off of an inbounds and was fouled by Ashley Bowman. Newsome’s two free throws put the Aggies up four with 1:09 to play.
After Norfolk State’s Shalynn Leonard missed two point-blank layups, Lady Aggies forward Watlington grabbed her seventh rebound of the game and handed it off to Renee Porter. Porter sank two more Lady Aggie free throws to put the game away.
“The girls are getting a lesson in what I like to call character building,’’ Roundtree said. “We know we can fight back. Now we need to see if we can put together a complete game, a complete effort. That’s our next step in building the kind of character we want to display on the court.”
Tia Richardson left the game with a hand injury at the 3:45 mark of the second half. She finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Areya Walker led the Lady Spartans with 17 points.
The Lady Aggies are in action again on Saturday when they face Delaware State in Dover, Del., at 2 p.m. They return home on Feb. 26 to face Florida A&M at 2 p.m.