GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T women's basketball lost its conference opener against the College of Charleston on Friday night at Corbett Sports Center in a game where it out-rebounded its opponent, including having twice as many offensive rebounds and making 10 more free throws.
But there is little time for the Aggies to dwell on those disappointing circumstances. After losing to the Charleston Cougars 63-58 on Friday, the Aggies must welcome Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) preseason favorite Towson and Towson redshirt senior guard Kylie Kornegay-Lucas, the CAA preseason player of the year, into Corbett Sunday at 2 p.m.
In the meantime, the Aggies (6-6, 0-1 CAA) will be looking to overcome a night where a 26-13 offensive rebounding advantage got negated by 29.9 percent shooting from the floor and 4-for-24 shooting from 3-point range.
"We did a lot of good things on paper tonight but put that ball in the hole," said A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson. "But we were 4-for-24 from the 3-point line and 20 of 67 from the field. You would have thought we played on the road. One of the things we are going to talk about is getting in the gym and doing things at game speed. Tonight was a game of making shots, and they made more than us."
Charleston created some separation from the Aggies in the second quarter by using an 8-0 run to take a 28-22 lead with 3 1/2 minutes remaining. The Cougars also went into halftime with a six-point lead at 32-26. Charleston grew its lead to as many as 10 five times in the third quarter, including on a quick transition basket by Taryn Barbot that gave the Cougars a 49-39 lead with 90 seconds remaining, following an A&T layup from Sean Kelly Darks.
But Maleia Bracone's only three-point make on that night came at the buzzer to end the third quarter and send the Aggies into the fourth trailing 51-45. A&T got to within five three times in the fourth quarter, but the Cougars had an answer each time. The final time came after a drive and dish by Jordyn Dorsey resulted in a Chaniya Clark layup to cut Charleston's lead to 57-52 with 3:04 remaining. Seconds later, however, Charleston's Anika McGarity settled in the corner and netted a 3-pointer off a Jada Logan pass to push the Cougars lead to eight.
"It was tough," Robinson said about being unable to make critical stops or buckets. "I guarantee you when we look at it (on film), it was some defensive rotation or poor execution. A lot of times, we could have made it from six down to four down, and we didn't get a good look, we didn't make the layup, or we didn't make the wide-open three or the right read. And I take responsibility for that."
The Aggies fought to get to within four, 62-58, as Laila Acox followed her miss and scored with 47 seconds to play. After a jump ball situation helped the Aggies regain possession, Bracone had a chance to get the Aggies closer but missed her 3-point attempt with 19 seconds remaining. Clark grabbed the offensive rebound but missed her layup. D'Mya Tucker secured the offensive rebound next, which eventually landed in Bracone's hands. However, she failed to connect on a three, finally giving the Cougars the possession and, ultimately, the game.
"These young women want to win," said Robinson. It is unfortunate when young people have to learn the hard way. We have a quick turnaround in having to prepare for Towson University. I'm proud of our young women's effort.
But for us to have played, Averett and Charleston to have not played, only practiced, we should have been more into it, and our pace should have been better. But Charleston's was, and ours wasn't, and that had a lot to do with missing a lot of the shots we missed."
Clark recorded her fourth career double-double and her second of the season by leading the Aggies with 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. Tucker added 11 points and eight rebounds, and Dorsey totaled 10 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Jenna Annecchiarico led the Cougars with 18 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
