GREENSBORO-The Clemson Tigers may come from what is considered a conference of kings, but sophomore forward Tracy King showed Clemson who rules Corbett Sports Center. The North Carolina A&T women's basketball team took on the ACC's Clemson Tigers, and defeated the power conference squad 76-66, behind a career-high 26 points from King and 18 points by guard Amber Calvin.
"Tracy's cool, she really is, and she does all the right things," said head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs, who is now 11 wins away from her 500th career victory. "She doesn't get rattled, and when she takes the ball to the hole, something's going to happen. Either she's going to make it and get an and one or she's going to shoot two free throws."
And that happened frequently, as King collected two three-point plays and went 10-for-12 at the free throw line in Monday's win. It was her 12th career game with double figures.
But King wasn't the only standout athlete, as junior JaQuayla Berry also had 12 points in the game, and junior Nikia Gorham had 13 rebounds in the contest, which was attended by 852 loud and enthusiastic fans. Calvin stayed hot from downtown, nailing four of her five 3-point attempts.
"We just really beat a good team from one of the greatest conferences," said Bibbs, who now adds Clemson among the big-named schools she has defeated in her career, which include Wake Forest, Charlotte, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Maryland, Syracuse, New Mexico State and Oregon.
"Our kids played well. We did so many of the right things to win this, and we had to because Clemson is really a good team," Bibbs added. "We wanted to disrupt their defense and wanted to make sure we did some good execution on the offensive end. It seemed as though we initially had a good start and then we let them come back. Still again our kids didn't get rattled, and that's what you want. It's a sign that they're learning to play together."
N.C. A&T led by as many as 13 in the second half. But Clemson pulled within three points, three different times in the last three minutes of the game. The final time came at the 1:38 mark when Shaniqua Pauldo hit two free throws to make it 67-64. The Aggies then turned to Gorham who hit a fade away baseline jumper to put the Aggies ahead by five.
Mikala Scott followed with a steal that led to an Aggies free throw. King put the game away with another successful defensive stance as she picked up her fifth steal of the night and raced down court to give the Aggies a commanding 72-64 lead with a minute remaining.
"Look at Tracy down the stretch, I mean she stepped up and knocked down shots, knocked down free throws, and she really didn't get a good start," Bibbs said. "She was in some foul trouble early on at the start."
The Aggies took a 35-26 lead at halftime, after a high-tempo opening 20 minutes. After A&T raced to a quick lead, the Tigers tied up the game at 13 points with a field goal by Dixon (who led the Tigers with 19 points), and the Aggies had a nearly five minute drought between baskets. But a 3-pointer by Calvin made it a 20-20 game, and the Aggies took back the lead for good on a free throw after a layup by King, to make it a 27-26 game. N.C. A&T went on an 11-0 run to close out the first half.
The Aggies are now 1-1 lifetime against Clemson, after losing a close one by 77-71 in South Carolina on Jan. 3. Clemson came to Corbett Sports Center this season because Tigers head coach Itoro Coleman has a relationship with Bibbs. Back when Bibbs was the head coach at Hampton, she recruited Coleman. Coleman ended up going to a different school, but always remembered Bibbs.
The crowd was no friend to Coleman's team, however. In the last few minutes of the game, the Aggie fans made life unbearable for the Tigers.
"I'm serious if we could take our fans on the road, I don't think we'd lose anything," Bibbs said. "We just have a great fan base, we really do. For them to just to see what we were doing and how magical things were on the floor, it was beautiful."
The Aggies will host Siena in the first half of an A&T basketball double-header on Friday at 2 p.m. The Aggies men's basketball team will host Barber Scotia at 7 p.m. on Friday at Corbett Sports Center.
Bibbs looks to take the momentum from this victory and use it to help propel them through the rest of their arduous schedule.
"It means so much to the program," she said of the victory. "Our kids know that we can win and we can win big games."
