GREENSBORO - The baby Aggies are growing up. The North Carolina A&T women's basketball team won its second straight game and head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs moved one step closer to her 500th victory as the Aggies defeated Delaware State 57-49 at Corbett Sports Center.
"It has been extremely tough to go back-to-back with these great kids, I'm serious," said Bibbs, who is now five wins shy of her 500th career victory. "I'm so happy these kids have grown, and they are growing. Tonight the resilience and the perseverance really stood out.
"There was great distribution of the ball, and this what we've been looking for," Bibbs continued. "The chemistry, that's also what we've been looking for. There's just so many things that are clicking for us, even though we turned the ball over. They're learning each other, and that's what you want."
What Bibbs and her coaching staff also want is to see their freshmen and sophomores produce. And they did on Monday.
Sophomore Tiffanie Adair posted her second consecutive double-double, tallying 19 points and 10 rebounds against the Hornets (4-16, 1-6), to help the Aggies pull to a 9-12 record and 4-4 conference record. Adair has scored 74 points and grabbed 45 rebounds in her last five games and has recorded double-doubles in her last two.
"Before it's all over, everyone's going to know who Tiffanie Adair is," Bibbs said. "She's doing what we were hoping for, and she's peaking. I'm so happy it's right now. She has so much confidence, and she doesn't get out of character of where she needs to shoot the ball."
Adair wasn't the only first-year player to impress Bibbs on Monday. Freshman Adriana Nazario, who started at point guard to help relieve the pressure of the ailing guard Amber Calvin, totaled 11 points and five rebounds to add to the Aggies' effort.
"Amber's a scorer as well and Nazario can get the ball down where we want it," said Bibbs of her decision to play Nazario at point. "For Amber to not have so much on her...we wanted her to go there in the wing area. Amber's very crafty."
Freshman Ariel Bursey added seven points and six rebounds. Calvin and center Nikia Gorham both had nine points in the contest. While not every freshman who played scored points, first-year players accounted for 25 of the 39 A&T rebounds, four of the six steals, and nine of the 14 assists in the game.
The game was tied at 43 after a layup by Bursey with 8:26 left in the game. A layup by Adair gave the Aggies a 45-43 advantage two minutes later. A&T never trailed again. The Hornets kept within striking distance, but the Aggies pulled ahead by six, 52-46, on a pair of free throws by Calvin. The Hornets kept fighting, as Tasia Bristow made a free throw to pull within five.
But Nazario answered with a layup to give the Aggies a 54-47 advantage with 41 seconds to play.
The Hornets 49 points were the lowest amount points scored against the Aggies this season.
The Aggies do not play the typical high-speed tempo that Bibbs teams are known for, but Bibbs said their slower, more methodic approach is what they want to utilize right now with a maturing team.
"I am so comfortable, because it's learning," Bibbs said. "We're really looking to execute, and this is what we did. The up-and-down style we can do when we're healthy. We're not healthy. We want to make it a slow game, and a consistent game, and that's what we're getting now."
The Aggies will travel to Florida to take on Bethune-Cookman at 2 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 4.
