The Aggies ran and played defense like a team that is 100 percent healthy on Monday night as the came away with an 88-62 win over Bethune-Cookman at Moore Gymnasium.

The Aggies improve to 8-7 overall and 3-0 in the MEAC with all three wins coming on the road. Jaleesa Sams scored a career-high 25 points and added nine rebounds. Lamona Smalley came off the bench to score 15 points and block a career-high four shots.

“It's been a long time on this road,'' said N.C. A&T head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. “But I'm proud of the way my ladies have carried themselves. We've had so many young ladies injured. We've been away from home for so long. But we still have eight wins and nine home games ahead of us. I like where we are right now.”

In the last two weeks, senior forward Shantar Waddell, senior guard Tyronnica Alford and leading scorer and senior guard Ta'Wuana Cook have returned from injuries. With a deeper bench, the Aggies have been able to go full force with their full-court pressure. It resulted in 29 Florida A&M turnovers on Saturday. On Monday, the Wildcats committed 26 turnovers against the Aggies pressure.

“We're playing some really good defense right now,'' said Bibbs. “I love it. It takes effort to play defense. We had a really good effort tonight. I mean to have 12 blocks, it's almost like we're saying, 'don't bring it in here.'”

Bethune-Cookman gave the Aggies a fierce fight in the first half. The Wildcats trailed by 11 early, but battled back to take a 1-point lead. The Aggies led by just one in the final seconds of the first half before Smalley hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Aggies a 34-30 halftime lead.

Things would not go right for the Wildcats from there. Amber Calvin opened the second half with another 3-pointer. A Smalley layup pushed the Aggies lead to nine. The Wildcats were able to keep the Aggies lead in single digits, but as she has done all season, freshman JaQuayla Berry provided the Aggies the spark they needed off the bench.

Berry's offensive rebound and put back started what would be a 17-6 to run in which the Wildcats turned the ball over four times. The Aggies capped the run with a Cook 3-pointer and a Sams layup that put them ahead 66-46 with 9:39 to play.

 “We're going to be so happy to be home,'' said Bibbs whose Aggies will play Howard Saturday afternoon at 2 from Corbett Sports Center. “We finally have all our soldiers back, so we're ready to go to battle the rest of the way.”

Jalisa Isaac led the Wildcats with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting. Jasmine Daniels added 15.