NACOGDOCHES, Texas  -- The North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team took a crack at history Saturday night and was successful. A&T forced Stetson into 26 turnovers to win their second straight preseason WNIT game with a 73-68 win over Stetson at Stephen F. Austin’s William R. Johnson Coliseum.

The win makes A&T the first HBCU to win consecutive games in the preseason WNIT. Along with their 2009 preseason WNIT win over Chicago State, the Aggies have now won more preseason WNIT games than any other HBCU.

It was during the 2010 postseason WNIT when the Aggies became the first HBCU to win consecutive games in an NCAA sponsored postseason Division I tournament.

“My hat goes off to my ladies today, we put together two solid days after a good week of practice before we got here,” said A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson. “The Quinnipiac game, we got off to a slow start and our biggest thing was to finish this thing 2-1.”

The Aggies would take a 64-59 lead on a Tracy King jumper with 5:21 remaining in the game. The Hatters (1-2) answered by scoring field goals on consecutive trips down the floor to cut A&T’s lead to one. The Hatters had a chance on their ensuing trip, but a turnover led to a Christina Carter jumper with 3:02 to play.

After the two teams traded free throws, Debbie Smith’s steal led to a King layup that gave A&T a 69-64 lead with 55 seconds remaining. An Ariel Bursey steal and two Carter free throws added two more points for good measure.

The Aggies (2-1) took the Hatters’ 26 turnovers and turned them into 32 points. Another sign of A&T’s strong defensive showing over the weekend was the number of charges they took. They took four on Saturday and six in the win over Georgia State Friday.

“We practice charges just about everyday,” said Robinson. “Tracy King and Adriana Nazario normally lead us in charges both in games and in practices. It’s a competition to them and everybody is catching that disease of taking a charge.”

Carter led the Aggies with 16 points, five rebounds and six assists. King added 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Redshirt Aprill McRae finished with 11.

“My hat goes off to the whole team, it was a team effort. I can’t really point out any player individual, but it was a good effort,” said Robinson.


The Aggies return to Greensboro in preparation for their home opener on Thursday, Nov. 21 at Corbett Sports Center at 6 p.m., versus Appalachian State.

A&T 73, Stetson 68 A&T 73, Stetson 68



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