GREENSBORO - North Carolina A&T was its own worst enemy Saturday afternoon. Twenty-eight turnovers put the A&T women's basketball team in the position of having to overcome two large deficits.
The Aggies had an impressive rally, but when Amber Calvin's lunging 3-point attempt at the buzzer fell short, so did the comeback as S.C. State defeated the Aggies 71-68. First-year player Tiffanie Adair continued her impressive surge after the New Year with a season-high 27 points and 15 rebounds on 10-for-14 shooting.
Calvin added 14 points and four assists and JaQuayla Berry had seven points, nine rebounds and five steals. The key number for S.C. State was its ability to score 34 points off of Aggie miscues.
"It is obvious we are not taking care of the basketball," said Aggies coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. "We keep making mistakes. It's not like the team is doing too much to us. It's always the unforced turnovers. We are not knocking free throws down and that's all we do is practice free throws. It's unacceptable."
The Aggies (10-14, 5-6) were actually better at the line than the Bulldogs. The Aggies made 17 of 25, while S.C. State hit just 9 of 19. But one missed free throw in particular was harmful. Berry brought the Aggies to within a point of erasing S.C. State's 20-point second-half lead as she dribbled to the basket, crossed over and was fouled while scoring on a layup with 22 seconds remaining in the game.
Berry didn't complete the 3-point play, however, forcing the Aggies to foul with the shot clock off. Tiana Hemphill hit made her first free throw to give the Bulldogs a 70-68 lead with 12 seconds to play. Hemphill's second free throw bounced off the back of the rim and into the hands of Adair. But Adair's errant pass gave S.C. State the ball back.
"We turned the ball over and gave them too many easy opportunities," said Bibbs. "They say teams that press don't like to be pressed, but you should still know what to do. We have to value the basketball more than we did tonight."
S.C. State (10-11, 5-5) used Adair's turnover to score on a free throw by Cabriel Duren, leading to Calvin's last-second attempt to win the game.
"We played a little like we were nervous tonight, and didn't take care of the basketball," said Bibbs. "Now you are trying to catch up. We are not that kind of team this year. When we get behind it's hard to get back."
It may have been hard. But the Aggies did it - twice . S.C. State jumped out to a 13-0 lead and later expanded their first-half lead to 15 at 35-20 with 6:53 remaining in the half. The Aggies worked the lead down to 38-30 at the half. To open the half, however, the Bulldogs used the same strategy it used in the first half to get the lead.
A three-quarter press seemed to rattle A&T at times. Eight turnovers in the first nine minutes of the second half led to S.C. State taking a 59-39 lead. Fortunately for A&T, S.C. State started turning the ball over. The Aggies used S.C. State's generosity to go on a 15-0 run to cut the lead to 59-54 with 7:12 remaining. S.C. State kept the Aggies at about a 5-7 point distance until Jessica Lyons popped a bounce pass into the lane, allowing Adair to score on an easy layup to make it 69-66 with 1:04 remaining. Berry's layup put the lead at one.
"The most aggressive team is going to win the game," said Bibbs. "When you come out passive like we did and then get aggressive in the second half, the game is usually lost in the first half."
S.C. State was led byTiara Knotts who had 18 points and six assists. Trinese Fox added 16. The Aggies will play host to Savannah State at Corbett Sports Center Monday at 6 p.m. It will be the first meeting between the two teams in 10 years.
