BLACKSBURG, Va. – On the road. In the postseason. At an ACC opponent's venue.
And the North Carolina A&T women's basketball team played as none of that bothered them over the first five minutes of its first-round Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT) contest against one of the tournament's four No. 1 seeds, the Virginia Tech Hokies.
Then, the next 15 minutes happened. The Hokies 3-point shooting eventually became a problem in the first half, leading to Virginia Tech eliminating the Aggies from the WBIT with a 61-45 win at Cassell Coliseum on Thursday. The loss brings A&T's impressive season to an end at 19-12.
It was a season that saw the Aggies win the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) regular-season crown with a 15-3 record. A&T also reached the postseason for the first time in four years and the eighth time under head coach Tarrell Robinson in 13 seasons.
"We couldn't get off to a better start. (Virginia Tech head coach Megan Duffy) calls a timeout, and then they started raining threes," said Robinson. "We knew coming in they were a prolific 3-point shooting team. We knew our errors would lead to transition that would open up those opportunities. I thought 3-point shooting was the difference in the game."
Senior guard Jordyn Dorsey ended her career with 11 points, six assists, four steals and four rebounds. Her six assists leapfrogged her over 400 for her career, making her the first player in program history to exceed that number. She will leave A&T with 404 assists.
Junior center Chaniya Clark tied a career-high with 19 points on 9-for-11 shooting, tying a career-high for field goals made. She secured her ninth double-double of the season and the 20th of her career with 13 rebounds. Virginia Tech had all kinds of trouble against Clark.
A driving layup by Dorsey gave the Aggies a 9-0 lead, forcing a Hokies timeout at the 5:38 mark of the first quarter. Virginia Tech scored after the timeout, but the Aggies went back inside to Clark to regain their nine-point advantage.
"At halftime, I told her, you've got to shoot it every time you get it," said Robinson. "You're the mismatch, and we need to take advantage of that. You tell Shaq (Chaniya) what to do, and she'll do it. She played very well, 9-for-11, a double-double against an ACC team. We're going to use this as fuel going into the spring and summer."
Despite Clark's play, Virginia Tech hit back-to-back threes before the Aggies went back inside to Clark for another score to give the Aggies a 13-8 lead with 3 ½ minutes remaining in the first quarter. The Hokies outscored A&T 30-5 over the final 13 ½ minutes of the first half to take a 38-18 lead at the half.
"They've been off for what, a week-and-half? They shook the cobwebs off and got busy," said Robinson about the Hokies spurt. He also added that the Hokies played at an incredible pace, making his team speed up more than they wanted.
"I was in every timeout talking about next year. How do we make sure we are able to play at this pace?" said Robinson.
The Hokies were 7-for-15 from 3-point range in the first half but shot 1-for-9 in the second. But the Aggies could never maintain a run to threaten the Hokies lead. The Aggies did attempt 19 free throws but made only eight.
"If you look at the numbers. I thought we did a great job," Robinson said. "We almost out-rebounding them. The turnovers and assists are pretty much even. We even made more free throws than they took. But we go 1-for-11 (from 3-point range), they go 8-for-24."
Robinson later mentioned free throw shooting as a problem.
"If we had knocked down some free throws, it would have been more of a competitive game," he said. "We knew to be aggressive. We knew to attack and put it on the officials to make calls, and they did. But we can't miss 11 free throws."
The Aggies will say goodbye to Dorsey, their all-time assist leader, and Maleia Bracone, one of the best 3-point shooters in program history. They are expecting to return Clark, who became the first player in program history to have more than 100 blocks in a season in 2024-25. A&T also expects sophomore starter Paris Locke to return. A&T has plenty of talent returning from its bench this season and a solid recruiting class.
The Hokies advanced to face Texas Tech on Sunday in Blacksburg. They improved to 19-12 with their win over A&T.
