Women's Basketball 3/22/2008 4:00:00 AM MEAC Media Relations

Lady Aggies Fall to South Carolina in First Round of WNIT

Amber Bland led the Lady Aggies with 18 points and Brittanie Taylor-James added 16 points and six boards in a 102-74 loss to South Carolina at the Colonial Center in the first round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.

The Gamecocks were led by Jordan Jones who hit a WNIT-record nine 3-pointers and finished with 31 points. Backcourt mate Brionna Dickerson added 25 points on 11-for-13 shooting, and Demetress Adams had 18 points and nine boards.

The Gamecocks, who shot 58.4 percent from the field, advanced to the second-round of the tournament and will face N.C. State Monday night at 7 p.m. in Raleigh.

“I thought we had a terrific season,’’ said head Patricia Cage-Bibbs. “The young ladies did things this year that have not been done in this program in a long time. We had some disappointments at the end. The question I have is; are we going to learn from those disappointments and grow as a team?”

The Lady Aggies won the MEAC regular-season title for the first time in 18 years. They finished the season with a school-record 25 wins and broke school records in several different statistical categories. In addition, their WNIT appearance was the program’s first postseason game in 14 years.

The Lady Aggies used their pressure defense to jump out to a 14-6 lead. A series of turnovers and missed jumpers allowed the Gamecocks to get into their transition game where they hurt the Lady Aggies all night. The Gamecocks went on a 13-2 run to take a 19-16 lead with 12:34 remaining in the first half.

Bland cut the lead to one on a short jumper, but a Dickerson three sparked a 16-4 run that gave the Gamecocks a 35-22 advantage with 7:19 remaining in the half. The Lady Aggies still had another push in them, however. Bland and Taylor-James kept North Carolina A&T close and with 2:15 remaining in the first half, Tyronnica Alford’s layup cut the Gamecocks lead to 41-38.

The Lady Aggies had a chance to get even closer, but after a Jalessa Sams steal the Aggies missed a layup. Jones answered with a 3-pointer and the Lady Aggies never recovered. After Alford’s field goal, the Lady Aggies didn’t score again in the first half. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks scored the final seven points of the first half for a 48-38 halftime lead. They also scored the first 10 points of the second half to put the Lady Aggies away.

“We turned them over 25 times, but we didn’t capitalize on it,’’ said Bibbs. “When you see that a team at one point in the game is shooting 70 percent that means they’re getting layups and we’re not getting back on defense. When you’re trying to win in the postseason, you need to play better defense.”

“Championship teams do championship things,’’ said Bibbs. “Champions hit free throws. Champions block out. Champions rebound the basketball. If we want to win more than just a regular-season championship, we’re going to have to do the things champions do.”