Amber Bland scored 29 points and recorded a game-high 12 rebounds as the North Carolina A&T Lady Aggies downed the Lady Rams of Winston-Salem State 73-40 in a rivalry matchup at the Joel Coliseum on Saturday evening.

The Lady Aggies would trail only one twice in the contest and would face a deficit of no more than two points.

Bland tallied 19 first-half points as she helped the Lady Aggies to a 29-point advantage during the game’s first 20 minutes of play en route to running their win streak to a season-high six games with the victory.

The Lady Rams, looking for their first win over North Carolina A&T since earning a 67-59 victory over the Lady Aggies during the 1986-87 season, would hit only six of their 27 first-half field goals as they finished the first 20 minutes of play with a chilly 22.2 percent shooting display.

Second-half action would be a mirror image of the first period as the Lady Aggies outscored WSSU 36-22 as N.C. A&T would increase their lead to as many as 41 points in the contest.

WSSU upped their shooting a full 10 percentage points in the second half as the home team connected on nine of their 28 field goal attempts in the game’s final period of play.

However, the increased shooting would not be enough as North Carolina A&T, powered by Bland’s double-double and Brittany Taylor-James’ 24 points and seven rebounds earned a decisive 33-point victory.

Leading the way for the Rams was MaLisa Bumpus who led all WSSU scorers with 15 points in 32 minutes of work.  Porsche Harrell tallied a career-high 10 rebounds in the losing effort.

The loss drops the Lady Rams to 0-16 on the season while North Carolina A&T improves to 12-5 overall (5-0 MEAC).

WSSU returns to action on Monday, Jan. 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Coliseum Annex in Winston-Salem, N.C. as they play host to the Lady Spartans of Norfolk State.