North Carolina A&T Aggies Close Out 2014 At VCU

North Carolina A&T Aggies (7-5) at Virginia Commonwealth Rams (8-4)
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 30 at 7 p.m.
Facility: Siegel Center
Probable Starters: G Debbie Smith (8.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg), G Adriana Nazario (6.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg), G Ariel Bursey (2.4 ppg, 1.0 rpg), G Dana Brown (4.3 ppg, 1.3 rpg), F Eboni Ross (9.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg)

Aggies Overview:  North Carolina A&T will set its sights on closing out 2014 with a win when it faces VCU on Tuesday. The Aggies are coming off a 58-43 loss to Chattanooga at the UTC Christmas Classic where they went 1-1 with a 54-49 win over Tennessee Tech. It will be a homecoming for several Aggies on Tuesday including redshirt juniors Aprill McRae, Christina Carter and head coach Tarrell Robinson who spent three seasons with the Rams before returning back to A&T. McRae and Carter each spent a season with the Rams before making the move with Robinson. On the road, the Aggies have been led by three players -- Ross (11.5 ppg), McRae (11.0 ppg) and Smith (10.3 ppg). A&T is 2-4 on the road and has averaged 57.7 points per game away from Corbett Sports Center.

Rams Overview: Virginia Commonwealth enters the matchup on a four-game winning streak after topping MEAC foe Coppin State, 63-52 on the road Sunday. The Rams have also pinned a 5-0 mark at home this season under first-year head coach Beth O’Boyle. The Rams were picked to finish 10th in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll after finishing the 2013-14 season with a 22-10 overall record and 9-7 mark in the conference. VCU is led by Isis Thorpe (10.8 ppg) and Adaeze Alaeze (10.2 ppg) in scoring. Camille Calhoun (7.8 rpg) leads a solid rebounding team that is averaging 45.4 rebounds a game. Tuesday’s game will be the first time both teams have met since the 2003-04 season when the Rams claimed a 62-43 win at home.

News & Notes:

• In A&T’s last three games, Ross has averaged 16.0 points per game along with 8.7 rebounds.
• Carter is 14^th in the nation in steals, averaging 3.25 per game.
• VCU holds a 2-0 all-time record over A&T.
• The Rams are 2-0 against MEAC teams this season (Coppin State, UMES) and 3-0 against North Carolina schools (High Point, UNCG, UNCW).

From the head coach: "As we get closer to conference time we want to start getting into a groove on both ends of the floor. We hope this game against VCU to end 2014 will be the beginning of things to come for Lady Aggie Basktball in 2015. I haven't thought much about the sentimental side of this game. My focus is just for this team to get into gear so we can start playing up to our own expectations. My time with Beth Cunningham at VCU gave me a solid foundation to come back home to Aggieland and live out my dreams. So much has changed there since I left."  Head coach Tarrell Robinson.

COURTESY NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION