Before the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team can rise to the level of being one of the best mid-majors in the country, the Aggies first must take care of trying to be one if not the best mid-major in North Carolina.
They are well on their way to accomplishing that after a huge 87-80 win over the Charlotte 49ers Monday night at Halton Arena. In terms of RPI ranking, the Aggies scored the biggest upset in school history. The 49ers came into the game with a RPI ranking of 34. Charlotte is the highest ranked RPI opponent the Aggies have ever defeated dating back the RPI’s inception in 1982.
With the win, the Aggies should bump into the top 100 in the RPI rankings. The win also improved the Aggies to 4-0 against in-state schools this season. Among those victories is a win over East Carolina of Conference USA and Monday’s win over Charlotte of the Atlantic 10.
“In both instances, we went into their place and won,’’ said Aggies head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs about the wins over ECU and Charlotte. “Tonight was such a big step forward for our program. Our ladies put two halves together and I am so proud of them.”
Amber Bland returned to her scoring ways on Monday night. The Ohio native led the Aggies with 26 points and 10 rebounds on 10-for-17 shooting as she recorded the sixth double-double of her career. Her performance also marked the 26th time she has scored 20 or points in her career, but it was just the third time she has done it in the last 19 games.
“Tonight Amber played like the player we all know and love,’’ said Bibbs. “She played like the player of the year.”
The MEAC’s leading scorer Brittanie Taylor-James added 19, and Ta’Wuana Cook inched closer to Aggie history. She finished with 18 points, putting eight points away from becoming just the 10th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.
“We got contributions from everyone and we really needed it with Jaleesa being out,’’ said Bibbs about her standout forward who didn’t play due to a death in the family. “When we called upon people to coming off that bench they played big for us.”
The Aggies led by as many as 10 in the second half. But the 49ers cut the lead to 81-78 behind a Traci Ray 3-pointer with 2:10 remaining. Taylor-James followed Ray’s jumper with a missed jumper, but she grabbed one of the Aggies 19 offensive rebounds on the night and scored to give the Aggies a 5-point cushion.
Charlotte’s Aysha Jones put the 49ers back to within three, 83-80, with two free throws. Charlotte would have a chance to inch closer or perhaps even tie the game after Taylor-James missed a three. But Aggies center Lamona Smalley took down a rebound off of a missed 3-pointer from Charlotte’s Shannon MacCallum with 39 seconds remaining.
Ten seconds later Bland was fouled. She hit both free throws to seal the game for N.C. A&T, who improved to 7-5 on the season as it heads into conference play Saturday afternoon at 2 against Morgan State in Baltimore.
“We rebounded the basketball tonight,’’ said Bibbs, who saw her team out-rebound the Niners 42-36. “We have to rebound the ball to be successful this year.”