GREENSBORO (December 28, 2016) – North Carolina A&T women's basketball made the best of its two days back to work since Christmas Day.
The toughness paid off as the Aggies guards Aliyah Kilpatrick, Dana Brown and Kala Green used their quickness to dominate the action all over the floor in a 63-57 win over the Ohio Bobcats (9-2), the No. 4 ranked team in the collegeinsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top-25 poll, at Corbett Sports Center Wednesday afternoon.
“Aliyah and I share the ball handling in the sense of making decisions,” said Green. “We both see the court really well, and we can make different plays. She is a lot more aggressive than me. I'm more of a surveyor. Tonight I was more into being aggressive as well. I know the contributions of me, Dana and Aliyah are going to be important. I feel like we have to pick it up.”
The good news for the Aggies is the guard play they will rely heavily on this season will be manned by veterans. Green is a junior, Kilpatrick is a graduate transfer and Brown is a fifth-year guard. Green secured her first career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Kilpatrick added 18 points, seven rebounds and four steals while Brown had six points, three assists and two steals. Green and Kilpatrick along with some help from sophomore Charnise Tyler's nine rebounds and junior Michelle Fitzgerald's eight, were key in the Aggies outrebounding the Bobcats 54-31.
“The more me, AK and Dana get into our roles, the more it will open our post play so we can play inside, out. Once our post can start dominating the paint, teams will have to play (our guards) straight up and that will give (the guards) a lot more freedom to do what we're good at.”
It wasn't all about scoring for the Aggies Wednesday afternoon, however. The Aggies (3-9) were playing a team averaging 68.2 points per game. N.C. A&T wanted to take away the Bobcats ability to spread the floor and dribble penetrate to the basket. The Aggies were willing to live with the Bobcats hitting some 3-point shots as long as they didn't take over in the paint because the Aggies help-side defense was lacking. The Aggies actually outscored the Bobcats in the paint 24-22 and Ohio was 7-for-37 from 3-point range.
N.C. A&T's defensive effort and rebounding edge kept them in front the vast majority of the game. Yet, the Bobcats only trailed 51-48 going into the fourth quarter. The Aggies were never able to stretch their lead beyond eight in the fourth quarter, but the Aggies gave the appearance they were pulling away because their defense was stifling. Bobcats guard Quiera Lampkins had seven points( 3-for-5 shooting) in the quarter and 26 for the game, but outside of her effort the Bobcats were just 1-for-10 from the floor in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, the Aggie guard trio of Green, Kilpatrick and Brown had 21 of the Aggies 28 second-half points.
“Even though statistically it didn't show, I thought our bigs were impactful in terms of making their team have to really focus on them, so our guards could go to work,” Robinson said. “Our guards are going to be key the rest of the season. I hope they continue to do the things they did today. We're going to go as they go.”
The Aggies will close out their non-conference schedule against Division II Francis Marion 2 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 31 at Corbett Sports Center before opening conference play at Hampton on Jan. 4 at 5 p.m.
