GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T Aggies had a rough time offensively Friday night in their Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) women's basketball season opener against William & Mary University (WMU), and it cost them in a 60-49 loss to the Tribe at Corbett Sports Center.
A&T dropped 5-7 overall and 0-1 in conference play. Graduate guard D'Mya Tucker led the way with 14 points and five rebounds. Meanwhile, the Tribe posted 21 assists on 25 made buckets to improve to 8-4 overall and 1-0 in league play. Dynasti Pierce had 14 points and five boards.
"I thought the score definitely doesn't look like the way it should look in terms of probably should be a little worse," said A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson. "We got off to a bad start. We need to get some continuity as a team. Got to get some leadership on the floor. Our freshmen struggled today, particularly at the point guard position, but I definitely believe in them."
The Aggies found it challenging to find a rhythm offensively against the Tribe's halfcourt double teams on the ball. When the Aggies did get a good look at the basket without the shot clock running down, the shots would not go through the hoop. A&T went 2-for-15 from the floor in the first quarter, but still only trailed 17-9 after two Chaniya Clark free throws ended the period. However, in the second quarter, A&T's inability to make shots started to take its toll.
WMU scored the first five points of the second quarter. After a 3-pointer from A&T graduate guard Jordan Brown got the Aggies to within 10 at 22-12 with 8:18 remaining in the first half, the Aggies went eight minutes without another field goal. The Tribe took advantage. A 3-pointer by Kyah Smith gave the Tribe a 36-14 lead with 1:04 remaining in the first half.
When Tucker rebounded a miss from freshman teammate Crystal Hardy and scored on a putback, it finally ended the Aggies' field goal drought with eight seconds remaining in the first half. A free throw from Monet Dance with 1.1 seconds on the clock gave WMU a 37-16 halftime lead. A&T went 4-for-28 (.143) from the floor in the first half. Meanwhile, the Tribe shot 15-for-30 (.500).
"If you're scheming, you want to press, but not necessarily to try to turn them over, but press to work the clock or to throw off the timing of the other team," said Robinson. "Our freshman point guards couldn't break the press and get us into our offense. Too many people holding the ball. Too many people put the ball in harm's way. But it's all stuff that we talked about, stuff we got to keep working on. One thing I'm confident about is that we'll get better. We will start to win games."
A&T improved throughout the second half despite the first 2 ½ minutes of the third quarter. The Tribe took its largest lead of the game, 42-16, on a Natalie Fox free throw. A&T outscored the Tribe 13-4 over the next six minutes, culminating in a steal and layup from freshman Ja'naya Meyers to cut the Tribe's lead to 46-29. Junior Paris Locke got the Aggies within 15, 58-43, with 3:49 remaining in the game after grabbing a rebound and racing the length of the floor for a layup. But the early deficit A&T found itself in proved insurmountable.
"William & Mary was the better team today," said Robinson. "They were hitting on all cylinders. They were hitting shots. We showed in our previous game that we have talent, we have potential, but now we've got to bring it all together because every game, 17 games left, people are playing for something."
The next time the Aggies play for something will be on Sunday when they welcome the Monmouth Hawks to Corbett Sports Center for a 1 p.m. tip.
