Lady Aggies faced off against the Morgan State Bears for their last home game of the season on Feb. 28.

Coach Gibbs said, “This is a key game going into the MEAC Tournament.”

The game started out close in the opening 7 minutes with A&T trailing 10-11; Morgan State would then push a 9-0 run on the Lady Aggies resulting in a 10-point lead.

After exchanging shots, Lady Aggies would soon trail by 14 points after a three point shot was made by the Bears’ Erin Hawkins with 2:36 remaining in the half.

“Three points add up, we’re scoring two and they’re scoring three, we’re just not recognizing the shooters,” said Coach Bibbs.

Teams would again exchange shots in the last few seconds of the half, leaving the half time score at 21-to-33 with the Lady Aggies trailing behind.

Lady Aggies shot around 20 percent from the field while the Bears shot around 40 percent.

The Lady Aggies would come out in the second half a different team, making a run to cut the lead down to seven, after a completed three point play by Nikia Gorham.

The Lady Aggies would then make consecutive defensive stops leading to another Aggie run that would cut the lead down to three with 4:45 remaining in the game.

“The full court pressure affected them in the second half,” said Bibbs.

The Bears would then extend their lead to five with 1:08 remaining, soon ending the game at a final score of 69-to-74.

A&T forward Jaleesa Sams led all scorers with 23 points, shooting 8-of-11 from the field. Erin Hawkins led the Bears scoring 17 points. A&T ended the game shooting a little over 30 percent, while Morgan State shot 40 percent.

“We really lost the game in the first half, if you can score 48 points in the second and have 21 in the first that means you weren’t ready to play,” said Bibbs.

Prior to losing to Morgan State, the Lady Aggies defeated the Eagles of Coppin State 75-74 on Feb 26. in Corbett Sports Center.

JaQuayla Berry and Riesha Bullock led the Aggies to victory scoring 17 points a piece. Leola Spotwood led the Eagles with 14 points and 12 rebounds in the Coppin State loss.

Kyra Coleman recorded 14 points for Coppin while Dawnnae Roberts ended the game with 13 points.

The Lady Aggies will be facing Norfolk State on the road this Thursday for their final game of the season before going into the MEAC tournament.

“It’s going to be tough facing Norfolk State on the road; they are a much more improved team since December 4 [2010] when we last played them, we have to be ready to play,” said Bibbs.

• Gian Spells