Women's Basketball 1/12/2008 5:00:00 AM MEAC Media Relations

Lady Aggies Defeat Morgan State

Brittanie Taylor-James, Nancy Rembert and Lonise Coulter came off the bench and combined to score 43 points to help the Lady Aggies defeat Morgan State 97-78 in the Aggies conference home opener Saturday afternoon at Irvin-Corbett Court.

“With the kind of up-tempo game Morgan State likes to play we really needed those ladies to step up and they did an excellent job,’’ said Bibbs. “We had 10 days off so I knew we would get winded early playing that style of basketball. To have Nancy give us the production she did and for Brittanie Taylor-James to knock down free throws like she did was huge for us.”

Amber Bland led the way for the Lady Aggies with 21 points and nine rebounds. Taylor-James added 19 on 9-for-9 shooting from the line, while Rembert scored a career-high 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting.

With the help of its bench, N.C. A&T beat Morgan State at its own game most of the night. The Aggies scored 18 fastbreak points and had 37 points off of 35 Morgan State turnovers. The Aggies 10-day layoff did have them looking a little out of sync, however. They started the game 0-for-9 from the floor before a Bland three 3:32 into the game gave them a 4-0 lead.

Morgan State guard Brittany Dobson tied the game at eight with 12:49 remaining in the half. The Aggies took over from there. A Rembert three sparked a 10-0 N.C. A&T run that gave the Aggies an 18-8 lead. The Bears never got the lead under double figures again.

The Lady Aggies shot just 31 percent in the first, but took a 38-21 lead into the half thanks to taking advantage of most of the Bears 19 first-half turnovers. The Aggies turned the ball over 13 times in the first half, but the Bears did not score a single point off of those turnovers.

“I think we were nervous early,’’ said Bibbs. “A lot of our layups were short, and normally those are shots we hit. But not being at home in almost a month, I think we had a hard time getting into a rhythm because of nerves.

The Lady Aggies (8-5, 2-0) had no problem getting into rhythm in the second half. They shot 61.1 percent in the second half and scored 59 second-half points. They led by as much as 32 in the second half. The Aggies performance was encouraging to Bibbs considering Morgan State defeated Coppin State in the Coppin Center to break the Eagles’ 41-game regular-season winning streak against MEAC opponents. Coppin State is coming off of back-to-back undefeated seasons in the conference, but Morgan State beat the Lady Eagles in the MEAC Tournament semifinals last season as well.

“We take solace in the fact that we played well against a very good Morgan State team tonight,’’ said Bibbs. “We’re going to see a totally different style on Monday. Our young ladies will have to adjust quickly. Coppin State is the standard in this conference, so we can’t dwell on this win too much.”

The Aggies face Coppin State Monday night at 6 p.m. from Irvin-Corbett Court.