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Post by Aggie One on Feb 23, 2009 19:59:02 GMT -5
Coppin is alone in second now, three games back with three to play, so the the clincher will be Saturday.
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DECKS
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Post by DECKS on Feb 23, 2009 20:00:51 GMT -5
We need one more win to clinch.
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Post by Bornthrilla on Feb 23, 2009 23:44:55 GMT -5
Should we rush the court on Saturday when we clinch?
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Post by SixtiesAggie on Feb 23, 2009 23:48:45 GMT -5
Three key players out. Sams Waddell and Smalley being injured in the first half. However, defense is still their achilles hill. The women will score on you easily by forcing turnovers off their traps, but in the half court game they are weak defensively (especially in the paint and down the lane).
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Post by Bornthrilla on Feb 24, 2009 11:47:25 GMT -5
If you ever want to see what someone in a zone looks like, get the game film of Brittanie Taylor-James from last night. There was about a 3 minute stretch in the second half where she couldn't miss.
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Post by Bigboy on Feb 24, 2009 11:53:43 GMT -5
When Brittanie came down court on a fast break and was by herself, she stopped, took a 3 pointer and hit nothing but net, I knew she was in the zone!!!
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Post by Bornthrilla on Feb 24, 2009 11:58:44 GMT -5
"Say it with me:"
"Brittanie .... Taylor ..... JAMESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!"
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Post by Bornthrilla on Feb 24, 2009 12:51:54 GMT -5
GREENSBORO, February 23, 2009 – North Carolina A&T women’s basketball coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs wants her team to know one thing. March is coming.
This is the time of the year where teams are jockeying for position in the standings. They’re trying to play their best heading into the conference tournament, and teams are out for survival. On Monday night, S.C. State (5-20, 2-12 MEAC) gave the Aggies a tough fight before falling to the first-place Aggies 83-74 at Corbett Sports Center.
Brittanie Taylor-James led the way for N.C. A&T with 27 points, marking the 11th time this season she has scored 20 or more points in a game. Amber Bland added 19 points and five assists. Ta’Wuana finished with 13. The Aggies improved to 20-6 on the season and 12-1 in the MEAC. The Aggies have compiled back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in program history.
“I’m glad we won, but I don’t feel good about this game,’’ said Bibbs. “Injuries are plaguing us, so we need people to step up and do a good job. We didn’t execute tonight, and I truly believe we’ve got to get better. We let them do a lot of things they wanted to do.”
Among the things the Bulldogs were able to do was get the ball inside. S.C. State scored 32 of their 74 points in the paint to shoot 61.2 percent for the game, the best shooting percentage of an Aggies opponent this season. The Bulldogs stepped up their shooting in the second half by shooting 72 percent.
S.C. State center Marie Reid scored 22 points on 8-for-9 shooting, while Bulldogs guard Sophilia Hipps scored 17 points on 4-for-4 shooting from 3-point range.
“It’s simple,’’ said Bibbs. “They shot layups and we settled for 3-point shots. When you’re settling for 3-points shots that means you’re not executing your plays. We’ve could have easily gotten to the basket against their 2-3 zone, but we didn’t attack.”
For most of the second half, the Aggies used their might on the offensive glass to hold a double-digit lead. An 8-0 Aggies run sparked by two outstanding Nakia DeBlanc post moves and two Bland jumpers gave the Aggies a 54-41 lead with 12:48 remaining in the game. After the Bulldogs were able to cut the lead under 10 again at 66-58 with seven minutes to play, Taylor-James heated up.
She put an outstanding move on a S.C. State defender to shake herself free for an open jump shot. Another Taylor-James jump shot gave the Aggies a 70-60 lead. She followed that by knocking down a 3-pointer on the fastbreak to put the Aggies up 13 with 5:34 to play.
Hipps then decided to put on a jump shooting exhibition of her own. Hipps knocked three straight 3-pointers to pull the Bulldogs to within four at 73-69. Hipps completed her one-woman 11-0 run by driving through the Aggies defense for a layup that put the Bulldogs down 73-71 with 3:42 remaining.
Fortunately for the Aggies, the Bulldogs went cold from there. Hipps layup was the Bulldogs last field goal of the game. The Aggies hit three out of four free throws to take a 76-71 lead. Cook put the Bulldogs away by using a Bulldogs turnover to break free for a layup and a 78-71 lead with 45 seconds remaining.
“My question to them was ‘How far can we go with the way we played tonight?’” said Bibbs. “I’m not satisfied with winning if we’re going to play like this because eventually it will catch up to you. We are a really good team. But it’s late in the season and the tendency is to get relaxed. You can’t do that this late in the season. You have to stay focused or you’ll be sent home early.”
Luckily for the Aggies, March is coming for other teams too. Delaware State has loss two straight since upsetting the Aggies last week. Therefore, an Aggies victory over Howard will give the Aggies their second straight outright MEAC regular-season championship. The Aggies face Howard Saturday afternoon at 2.
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oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Feb 24, 2009 12:55:46 GMT -5
Should we rush the court on Saturday when we clinch? naw, i don't think so thrilla. we've been there before, we won the regular season last year. i think we storm the court if we win it all in winston! i don't think anyone on the team will be happy with a regular season championship if we don't win the tourney too...
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