EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T has hit the first snag of its Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) existence. The Aggies lost for the third time in four games after a 79-64 loss to the William & Mary Tribe in CAA women's basketball play at Corbett Sports Center on Sunday.
Despite their recent slump, the Aggies are still in a tie for second in the conference, even though they dropped to 15-9 overall and 9-4 in the CAA. The Aggies and the Tribe fell into a second-place tie as Tribe won for the eighth time in nine tries, including its last four, to improve to 14-10 overall and 9-4 in conference play.
"We'll correct things through practice and attention to detail," said A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson. "In the moments we're supposed to execute, we need to execute. When you get five people on the court, and on each possession, someone does something outside of what we do in practice or something outside of the game plan, you'll get the result we got tonight."
The Aggies got 19 points and four steals on 6-for-12 shooting from the field, 4-for-10 from three and 3-for-4 from the line. But the Tribe placed five players in double figures, led by Riley Casey's 20 points and Rebekah Frisby-Smith's 17 points on 5-for-11 shooting from 3-point range.
Casey and Frisby-Smith got the Tribe off to a fast start as the Tribe was 8-for-12 (.667) from the field and 4-for-5 (.800) from 3-point range in the first quarter.
After Bracone netted a 3-pointer to give A&T a 7-4 lead, Frisby-Smith sparked a 10-0 Tribe run with a 3-pointer. Then, a Laila Acox layup and a jump shot from Jazmin Harris pulled the Aggies to within three at 14-11 before Frisby-Smith and Casey hit consecutive threes to put the Tribe ahead by nine.
After a steal and layup from A&T guard Nyah Willis, Riley hit two free throws to send W&M into the second quarter leading 22-13. But the Aggies opened the second quarter on a 9-2 run before Casey hit a three to give W&M a 27-22 lead with 5:12 remaining in the first half.
Bracone got the Aggies to within three on a layup before the Tribe scored the next four points to increase its lead to seven, 31-24. The two teams then traded threes as Dorsey knocked down one before Frisby-Smith answered. But it was Bracone's three as time expired in the first half to sent A&T into the locker room trailing 34-30.
But the Tribe began to pull away over the final 70 seconds of the third quarter. After Harris made a layup to pull the Aggies to within seven at 50-43, The Tribe ended the quarter on a 7-0 run that included a three from Lanni Brown to take a 57-43 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Aggies never really threatened to cut into W&M's double-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter. The Tribe had much to do with that, shooting 57 percent in the quarter and 51.9 percent for the game.
Dorsey contributed 11 points and five rebounds for A&T, who is 0-2 on its recent homestand. The Aggies will try to salvage their three-game homestand against Monmouth next Sunday at 2 p.m.
"We must regain our chemistry and get everybody on the same page," said Dorsey. "Once we correct things in practice, we'll come out with the win in the next one."
