GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T women's basketball fell behind early at chief North Carolina Central University (NCCU) on Tuesday and found a way to win.
The Aggies were not as fortunate at home on Saturday. The Norfolk State Spartans sprinted out to a double-figures lead in the first quarter and held off A&T to win 63-50 at Corbett Sports Center in a non-conference matchup between two old HBCU rivals. A&T got 19 points and six rebounds on 7-for-13 shooting, yet the Aggies dropped to 3-5 overall.
Meanwhile, the Spartans guard Da'Brya Clark posted 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and five steals to help Norfolk State improve to 4-6. A&T played its third straight game without preseason all-conference forward Paris Locke.
The Aggies also played their second straight game without reserve forward Darrionna Howard. But most of A&T's early problems came from carelessness with the basketball. The Aggies turned the ball over 10 times in the first quarter. As a result, A&T took only 10 shots in the first quarter, making only two. Norfolk State shot 10-for-21 (.476) from the floor and had a 24-8 lead heading into the second.
"We put ourselves in a situation where we had to make every play," said A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson. "Every play had to be a big play. At this time of the year, it shouldn't be like that."
With 4 ½ minutes remaining in the first half, the Aggies were in an even bigger hole after Jasha Clinton turned an A&T turnover into a transition basket to give the Spartans a 34-15 lead. The Aggies had 32 turnovers for the game. Despite the mishaps, the Aggies made a mini-run toward the end of the first half, outscoring the Spartans 9-2 to go into the locker room trailing 36-24 at halftime. Graduate Jordan Brown had five points during the run, capping things off with a 3-pointer as time expired.
Over the first 2 ½ minutes of the second half, the Aggies kept chipping away at Norfolk State's lead. After a Clinton 3-pointer gave the Spartans a 39-26 lead, Tucker went into the post and hit a turnaround jump shot, followed by her intercepting a pass and scoring on a transition layup the other way. Fifth-year senior Chaniya Clark finished off the run with a 15-footer to cut the Spartans' lead to seven.
A&T went the next five minutes without a field goal, allowing the Spartans to build their lead back to double figures before sophomore Elliott Jessup netted a three to bring the Aggies to within 46-38 with 1:18 remaining in the third quarter. That lead got reduced to six on a pull-up "J" from Tucker before Anjanae Richardson's tip-in sent the Spartans into the final quarter leading by eight.
"They scouted us, obviously," said Robinson. "I told our young women that we can't survive another big deficit. You can't assume that we are going to pull off what we pulled off in Durham today in Greensboro."
It was true. The Aggies could not. Norfolk State opened the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 55-40 lead. The Aggies never got the lead under double figures again.
"If you even look at our lineups, we've had multiple lineups. Some because of injury and some because of just youth," said Robinson. "I talk to them about a fist and really being connected on the floor. The better teams win games that way, and we're just not there yet. But we're a work in progress. Again, hats off to (Norfolk State), but this ain't my first rodeo. We're going to be all right. You need games like this because if there's a level of ownership and accountability, we'll get better."
A&T lost to Norfolk State for the second straight season at home. The Aggies will take nine days off from competition before traveling to the University of Georgia to play the Bulldogs on Monday, December 15, at 11 a.m. from Stegeman Coliseum. UG will be A&T's fourth Power Four opponent this season.
