NORFOLK,
Va.
– It
appears the sky is not falling on the North Carolina A&T women's
basketball program after all. After some tough losses against quality
opponents, the Aggies showed Saturday night that they are still a team
to be reckoned with in the MEAC.
Behind 16 points and eight rebounds on 7-for-7 shooting by senior
Lomona
Smalley, the Aggies defeated Norfolk State 81-51 at Echols Hall
Saturday
evening. The Aggies have won seven straight over the Spartans by an
average margin of 27 points.
Freshman JaQuayla Berry added 11 points and 10 rebounds, and junior
Jaleesa Sams finished with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.
The
Aggies compiled 22 assists for the game. Twelve of those assists came
from the Aggies post players.
“We've been working on really trying to get that ball in the paint,''
said N.C. A&T head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. “Instead of settling
for
that 3-point shot, I think you can make a lot of things happen when
you
get that ball near the basket. You make defenses have to react, and
then
you've got cutters who are going to make things happy.”
The Aggies scored 48 points in the paint off of interior passing.
Smalley got two of those points on an offensive rebound and put-back
that put the Aggies up 11-6. Ta'Wuana “Tweet” Cook followed quickly
with
a 3-pointer. After a Genor Dalton miss, Sams took the rebound and
dished
it to Cook.
Cook penetrated into the lane and dished off a pass to Smalley for an
easy layup and a 16-6 Aggies lead eight minutes into the game. After a
Nikia Gorham free throw, Berry took advantage of a missed layup by
Norfolk State's Whitney Long. Berry took the rebound, raced it down
the
floor and pulled for a jump shot that completed the Aggies 13-0 run.
Berry's jumper gave the Aggies a 22-6 lead with 10:15 remaining in the
first half. The lead never got under 13 the rest of the way. The
Aggies
improve to 3-4 on the season and 1-0 in the MEAC. Norfolk State falls
to
1-5 and 0-1 in the conference.
“I'm glad I was able to play my young people tonight,'' said Bibbs. “I
was able to give them a few extra minutes once we got a big lead. I
think that's going to be huge for us. The more experience they get,
the
better team we will be come March.”
The Aggies will take an 11-day break for exams before traveling to LSU
to play in the Tigers' tournament on Dec. 15-16.
