The N.C. A&T women’s basketball team has been a force in any conference they’ve played in. A&T women’s basketball coach Tarrell Robinson has possessed a winning mentality since arriving in Aggieland as a student-athlete. Robinson played forward for the Aggies from 1997-2001 and after his time on the court, Robinson moved to the sidelines as a men’s graduate assistant.
Since 2012, when Robinson took over the women’s program as head coach, A&T has a winning percentage of .622 (257- 156). They’ve won four conference championships and made three NCAA tournament appearances during his tenure. This year, they are looking to add to those accolades.
“It’s hard to question winning,” Robinson said. “There’s a lot of winning that’s been going on that has separated us from other Division I [programs] in the state. We’re an HBCU by tradition, but we operate on the level of the best.”
Back in 2022, the Aggies defeated S.C. State to make Robinson the program’s all-time winningest coach, passing Tim Abney. Later on in the same season, Robinson won his 200th career game. He became the third A&T basketball coach – men or women – to earn 200 wins at A&T.
“It’s a mark that says I did a pretty good job,” Robinson said. “I don’t consider this work. Being at this university I love the environment, I love the culture.”
This year, Robinson has the Aggies in position to win another conference championship in the CAA. A&T currently sits atop of the conference standings at 10-2 and are the favorites to win.
“Our starters can’t be complacent … and can’t be satisfied with that,” Robinson said. “People who aren’t getting the playing time they want, when your name is called you have to be ready. If you’re not ready, you’re letting us down on the big goal that we want.”
Jordyn Dorsey, the team’s captain, has a chance at winning the conference player of the year. Earlier this year, the senior guard became the 15th player in A&T women’s basketball program history to reach 1,000 career points and currently sits in the top 10. By the end of the season, she could well be inside the top 5.
“It has been great playing here these past 4 years,” Dorsey said. “An even greater feeling to play for coaches that believe in you and help you to succeed. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be amongst the greatest players here.”
Coaching a great player isn’t new to Robinson; he’s coached a few of the all-time greats in Lady Aggie history. He was on staff when Eboni Ross and T’Wuana Cook won MEAC Rookie of the Year and Brittanie Taylor-James became MEAC Player of the Year, but he says there’s something different about Dorsey.
“If there was a word I could use to describe Jordyn, it’s invested,” Robinson said. “She’s very driven as a person, she wants to put her best foot forward. Right now, in my opinion is the hardest working, talented player that I’ve ever coached. Every year she gets better, she’s really coachable, she’s really invested in relationships with her teammates and the coaching staff.”
This year’s team is not only filled with talented players but has experience. There are seven senior or graduate players on the team, they have seen the highs and had to deal with the lows. That experience goes a long with knowing how to handle the ups and downs of a season.
“They’ve been there before, they’ve been in these situations,” Robinson said. “They know how to bounce back, a freshman could be more emotional about a situation, but our grads and seniors have been there. There’s no question that they’re going to respond because we’re still sitting in the position of being atop the CAA.”
Robinson is confident that this team can and will bounce back from anything that comes at them, and they know the expectations of the season and going into tournament play.
“The goal for the rest of the season is just to come out with a victory each night,” Dorsey said. “Whatever that looks like, just doing whatever it takes to get it done. Winning right now is more important than anything else.”
With six games left in the regular season and a conference tournament most likely ahead of them, the focus for the team is to keep getting better and finish what they’ve started.
The next game for the Lady Aggies is Friday, Feb 21. at William & Mary.
