ORANGEBURG, SC – Defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion North Carolina A&T closed the game with 14-7 run to capture a 67-60 win over host South Carolina State Saturday at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center.
After SC State's Tiara Knotts made the second of two free throws to deadlock the contest at 53-all with 4:18 to play, the Lade Aggies' Jaleesa Sams converted on two free throws at the 3:09 mark to trigger a 6-0 run that put the visitors ahead 59-53 with 2:11 showing.
Reserve Shontay Wylie got a follow shot for the Lady Bulldogs and Trinese Fox made one of two from the line to pull the host to within 59-56 with just under a minute left. But Amber Calvin converted a three-point play on NC A&T's next trip down court for a 62-56 advantage and the closest SC State could get after that was that six-point margin.
Sams had 14 points and seven rebounds to lead NCA&T. Crystal Murdaugh came off the bench for 12 points and Calvin finished with 11 in the Lady Aggie victory, the 10th straight regular-season MEAC triumph and the 13th overall against conference competition for Coach Patricia Bibbs' squad. NC A&T improved to 11-7 and 6-0 in the MEAC
Whitney Wiley had 20 points and seven boards for SC State, which dipped to 5-12 overall and 0-5 in the MEAC. Wylie and Sophilia Hipps contributed 11 each for the Lady Bulldogs in the loss, their fifth in a row and their 10th in the last 11 outings.
SC State, which trailed 30-26 at the half, outshot the visitors 43 percent (26-60) to 33 percent (21-63) from the field and had one more rebound (42 to 41) in the contest, however, NC A&T enjoyed a huge edge at the line, making 25 of 27 attempts to just 8 of 17 for the Lady Bulldogs, who also committed 24 turnovers, seven more than the Lady Aggies.
Lady Bulldog head coach Doug Robertson acknowledged the effort of his team against the league heavyweight but said his team had an opportunity to capture its first MEAC game of the year but didn't convert on a number of easy attempts inside and allowed too many second chances by NC A&T.
“If we grab a few more crucial rebounds, especially on the defensive end, and make a few more layups, we could have gotten the win,” Robertson said. “I'm happy about the fight we put up, but we are not in the 'moral victory' business. I want to see these kids get a conference win.
“I thought we executed our game plan pretty well,” continued Robertson, who is in his second season at the helm of the SC State women's team. “We knew what that would come in doing and I think we surprised them defensively. But, we needed to do a better job on the boards and cut down on the turnovers and make the easy baskets inside. We just need one win to get out confidence going and I believe we can get rolling with a few victories.”
The Lady Bulldogs return to action Monday when they host Norfolk State in the first game of an MEAC doubleheader that gets underway at 5:30 p.m.
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