GREENSBORO - No matter what problem the North Carolina A&T women's basketball team presented to Morgan State Monday evening, the Bears had the same two solutions throughout. Morgan State frustrated the Aggies with efficiency from the free throw line and 3-point arc. As a result, the Bears won the battle for the No. 2 seed in the MEAC Tournament with a 74-69 win at Corbett Sports Center.
The Bears hit 11 3-pointers and made 23 of 25 free throws. Erin Hawkins led the way with 17 points on 5-for-10 shooting from 3-point range. Brittany Dodson added 15 points on 9-for-10 shooting at the line.
In her final game at Corbett Sports Center, senior Jaleesa Sams finished with 23 points and six rebounds.
"Morgan State did what they're supposed to do, they hit 3-pointers and hit free throws," said N.C. A&T head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. "They executed brilliantly tonight."
The Aggies trailed by as many as 14 in the second half. But a Sams 3-pointer tied the game at 56 with 4:20 remaining. The Bears responded by going on a 9-2 run that included a 6-for-6 stretch at the free throw line and a 3-point shot by Brittany Noel that gave the Bears a 65-58 lead with 1:26 to play.
N.C. A&T got the lead down to three points four times within the last 40 seconds of the game. But the Bears converted 7 of 8 free throws to put the Aggies away.
The Bears (16-12, 10-5) secured the No. 2 seed with the win. The loss for the Aggies (14-13, 9-6) was costly. They slip into a third-place tie with Howard. The two teams split this season, but Howard owns the tiebreaker over the Aggies because its margin of victory was greater. Therefore, the Aggies need a Howard loss to secure the third seed.
Howard plays at home against regular-season champion Hampton on Thursday, while the Aggies play at Norfolk State the same day. A three-way tie among Morgan State, Howard and N.C. A&T places the Aggies in the No. 4 spot at the tournament.
"I tell them every game to come out ready to play, and we didn't come out ready to play," said Bibbs. "We got into foul trouble early. When (leading scorer Jaquayla Berry) went out, we didn't have any offensive flow. We did play well in the second half. I wish we would have played like that in the first half."
Shot attempts did everything but go in for the Aggies in the first half. Layups, runners and 3-pointers all seemed to rattle out on the Aggies as they shot 21 percent over the first 20 minutes. N.C. A&T's shooting issues were compounded when Berry went out with her third foul in the first half.
The Aggies saving grace on Monday were Morgan State turnovers. The Bears' 26 turnovers led to 32 Aggie points. But seven first half 3-pointers helped the Bears take a 33-21 halftime lead.
"This was a big game for us, and we let it slip away," said Bibbs.
