After losing the battle of the boarders to S.C. State last Saturday the N.C. A&T Lady Aggies redeemed themselves on Monday night against Savannah State.
After losing the battle of the boarders to S.C. State last Saturday the N.C. A&T Lady Aggies redeemed themselves on Monday night against Savannah State.
The Lady Aggies shut out the Tigers to help head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs to get her 497th win. The Lady Aggies got off to a sluggish start. In the first few minutes of the game, poor shot selection kept the Aggies behind as they trailed the Tigers 6-2.
Savannah State’s Ezinne Kalu surprised the Aggies with a quick four points and two steals.
Early in the first half, the Aggies had trouble holding on to the ball after a few quick turnovers put them behind 8 – 4. As the lady Aggies found a way to break Savannah State’s 2-2-1 full court press, junior forward JaQuayla Berry gave them their first lead of the game scoring on an old- fashioned three-point play to put the Aggies up 13-12.
After the Aggies kept up the momentum as they forced two shot clock violations.
But the momentum took a sudden turn as Berry went down with an ankle injury with 9:49 left in the half. She did not return to the game.
But Bibbs had her four time rookie of the week Tiffanie Adair to keep the Lady Aggies on track for the rest of the first half.
As the first half rolled on the Aggies controlled their turnovers and managed to make a 13-8 run and with 4 minutes left in the first half Lady Aggies have another 7-0 run.
Aggies went into half time leading 35 -23.
In the first half, the Aggies limited the Tigers to just 25 percent shooting from the field and 73.3 percent free throw percentage, and kept the Tigers from making any three-pointers.
The Lady Aggies shot 40 percent from the field, 16.7 percent from behind the three-point line and had an 87.5 free throw percentage.
“I went into them the first half and the girls responded,” said Bibbs.
Savannah State came out at half time pressuring the ball full court that shook up the Aggies but with Adair’s leadership who finished the night with 14 points and 14 rebounds. The Aggies went on to shut out Savannah State Tigers 69-45.
Even with the Aggies having 22 turnovers they held the Tigers to a 29.2 shooting percentage overall and 10 percent shooting from behind the arc.
“My team played very good tonight,” said Bibbs. “They rebounded the shot well from the free throw line and played good defense. That’s what we worked on so I’m very proud of my girls.”
Adair, who recorded another double-double, explained that her ultimate goal was to become the MEAC rookie of the year.
A&T will host the Eagles of N.C. Central Saturday in a double-header rivalry with the men’s and women’s team.
The last time the two women’s teams played against each other, the Aggies pulled out a 53-50 win over the Eagles in January.
The Aggies are currently ranked No. 7 in the MEAC while the Eagles are ranked last.
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- R.J. Canty, Contributor