2008-09 Season Review Season 2008-09 93 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TTOPOP 1010 MOMENTSMOMENTS ooff tthehe 22008-09008-09 SSeasoneason NOVEMBER 29, 2008 • EAST CAROLINA LADY PIRATES • MINGES COLISEUM, GREENVILLE, N.C. Don’t invite the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team over for a Thanksgiving weekend. The Aggies (3-2) aren’t very good guest. For the second straight season, the Aggies won a Thanksgiving weekend tournament on someone else’s home fl oor. This time it was the Lady Pirate Invitational played at East Carolina’s Minges Coliseum as the Aggies defeated ECU 72-53. The rudest visitors throughout the weekend were the Aggies two outstanding senior performers Brittanie Taylor-James and Amber Bland. Taylor-James led the Aggies with a career-high 28 points on 10-for-10 shooting from the free throw line. For her efforts, she earned tournament MVP honors by scoring 41 points and grabbing 13 rebounds over two games. Bland was named to the all-tournament team as well. Bland scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with her fi ve steals. For the tournament, Bland scored 42 points, pulled down 20 rebounds and had an impressive 11 steals. Despite the Pirates’ size advantage, the Aggies were able to keep the ball out of the post by sprinting into the passing lanes or beating the bigger Pirates down the fl oor. When the Pirates did get the ball down low, the faster Aggies swarmed to the basketball to force turnovers. The Pirates shot just 35 percent from fl oor and were just 4-for- 21 from 3-point range. ECU turned the ball over 24 times as the Aggies compiled 15 steals on the night and 31 steals for the tournament. “We saw that they were big, but didn’t possess a lot of speed,’’ said Bibbs, who was astonished that her team was able to out- WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WOMEN'S rebound the Pirates 51-32. “Even though we were undersized, we know that rebounding isn’t always all about height. We told the ladies to use their athleticism to beat them down the fl oor and to beat them into position for block outs and loose balls. I’m proud of what we were able to do on the boards against this team.” Bibbs was also impressed out how the Aggies were able to pull away despite not having starters Reisha Bullock and Nakia DeBlanc. Two more Aggie starters – Jaleesa Sams and Bland – played hurt most of the night. 94 TOP 10 MOMENTS of the 2008-09 Season WAKE-UP CALL DECEMBER 6, 2008 • NORFOLK STATE SPARTANS• CORBETT SPORTS CENTER, GREENSBORO, N.C. The North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team just came off of a game where it was very competitive against nationally-ranked Auburn. Days before that, the Aggies looked impressive in winning East Carolina’s Lady Pirate Invitational. Therefore, a team like Norfolk State who came into Corbett Sports Center Saturday afternoon winless and labeled with being picked to fi nish last in the MEAC, could not give the Aggies a challenge. For 20 minutes, the Spartans gave the Aggies a very stiff challenge before the Aggies put together a dominating second half performance to win 90-59 in what was the conference opener for both schools. Brittanie Taylor-James fi nished with 22 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Ta’Wuana Cook added 20 points and three assists, while Amber Bland contributed 18 points and fi ve rebounds as the Aggies grabbed a team-record 62 rebounds for the game. All 10 Aggies that played had at least one rebound. Seven of Danelle Tate’s team-high 13 points came in a fi rst half where the Spartans jogged into the locker room staring at a stunned crowd at Corbett. The Spartans (0-5, 0-1 MEAC), who had lost their last four games to the Aggies by an average 24.0 points, led 29-28 at the half. They held the Aggies to just 23.3 percent shooting to go alongside 18 fi rst-half Aggie turnovers. “Our girls took them for granted,’’ head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs admitted. “They thought they could go out and not do the things they are supposed to do to win. I’ve always told my teams that regardless of who you are playing, you should never go out and give less than your best. We gave less than our best in that fi rst half.” The Aggies tried their hardest to make up for not giving their best in the fi rst half as they outscored the Spartans 62-30 in the second half. Tyeisha Bridges kept the shock going early in the second half, however, with a jump shot that gave the Spartans a 31-28 lead. Genor Dalton’s jumper kept the Spartans in the lead at 33-32 three minutes into the second half. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL After a Cook free throw tied the game at 33, Lamona Smalley made the play that got the Aggies going for the rest of the half. Smalley blocked a jump shot by Marquilla Evans, grabbed the rebound and fi red an outlet pass to a sprinting Cook who fi nished the play off with a layup that led to an 11-2 run that gave the Aggies a 46-35 lead with 14 minutes to play. The Spartans were able to push the lead back under 10 with two free throws from Tate. But the Aggies just went on another tear. This time the Aggies scored 13 unanswered points to take a 59-37 lead. The Aggies defense became so good; the Spartans went nearly three minutes without even attempting a shot. 95 NORTH CAROLINA CONQUERERS JANUARY 5, 2009 • CHARLOTTE 49ERS • HALTON ARENA, CHARLOTTE, N.C. Before the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team can rise to the level of being one of the best mid-majors in the country, the Aggies fi rst must take care of trying to be one of the best mid-majors in North Carolina. They are well on their way to accomplishing that after a huge 87-80 win over the Charlotte 49ers Monday night at Halton Arena. In terms of RPI ranking, the Aggies scored one of the biggest upset in school history. The 49ers came into the game with a RPI ranking of 34. Charlotte is the highest ranked RPI opponent the Aggies have ever defeated dating back the RPI’s inception in 1982. With the win, the Aggies should bump into the top 100 in the RPI rankings. The win also improved the Aggies to 4-0 against in-state schools this season. Among those victories is a win over East Carolina of Conference USA and Monday’s win over Charlotte of the Atlantic 10. “In both instances, we went into their place and won,’’ said Aggies head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs about the wins over ECU and Charlotte. “Tonight was such a big step forward for our program. Our ladies put two halves together and I am so proud of them.” Amber Bland returned to her scoring ways on Monday night. The Ohio native led the Aggies with 26 points and 10 rebounds on 10-for-17 shooting as she recorded the sixth double-double of her career. Her performance also marked the 26th time she has scored 20 or points in her career, but it was just the third time she has done it in the last 19 games. The MEAC’s leading scorer Brittanie Taylor-James added 19, and Ta’Wuana Cook inched closer to Aggie history. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WOMEN'S She fi nished with 18 points, putting eight points away from becoming just the 10th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. The Aggies led by as many as 10 in the second half. But the 49ers cut the lead to 81-78 behind a Traci Ray 3-pointer with 2:10 remaining. Taylor-James followed Ray’s jumper with a missed jumper, but she grabbed one of the Aggies 19 offensive rebounds on the night and scored to give the Aggies a 5-point cushion. 96 REDEMPTION, SORT OF JANUARY 12, 2009 • COPPIN STATE EAGLES • COPPIN CENTER, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND What may have been the most telling moment in an otherwise dominating performance by the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team on Monday occurred at the 6:35 mark of the second half. Aggies senior guard Amber Bland stepped in front of a Shinaa Woods pass for a steal, and sprinted down court to fi nish off an easy layup with a huge smile on her face. Yes, Coppin State superstar guards Shalamar Oakley and Rashida Suber’s college careers are over, therefore, the Eagles team the Aggies beat 75-57 at the Coppin Center Monday night doesn’t look too similar to the Eagles team that beat N.C. A&T in the MEAC Tournament championship game last season. But the jersey still said Coppin State. Bland’s smile was just a small sense of satisfaction after what was a heartbreaking loss to the Eagles in March. “At that moment it was kind of a relief to know we came in here and got back some of the pride they took from us last year,’’ said Bland, who was a part of the Aggies 72-70 loss to the Eagles in the MEAC title game, in which Suber hit a layup with seconds remaining to earn the win.