The Aggie/Rams rivalry is still a thing. It was renewed again through women’s basketball Friday night with the DII Rams giving the Aggies a scare before succumbing to N.C. A&T, 60-56 in front of a great crowd at Corbett Sports Center.
“Regardless of how we performed, a win is a win,” said N.C. A&T coach Tarrell Robison. “It is up to us to learn from this and get better. Winston-Salem State University came in here, brought their fans, and made this a true rivalry game. It was great playing in front of a crowd like this early in the season. I think it will only benefit us moving forward.”
Robinson’s crew played without his top two scorers in juniors C’coriea Foy and Cinia McCray. Their absences allowed Robinson to see some of his young talents. Freshman Charme Lilly led the Aggies with 18 points and five steals. Junior Alexus Lessears finished with 11 points and five rebounds. Freshman Taya Jones came off the bench and hit two 3-pointers.
“We got to see a lot of people play in this environment. We got to see who responded and who didn’t,” said Robinson. “Lilly was a very talented and skilled young lady coming out of high school. She was highly decorated in terms of all-state and player of the year, so we knew the type of player we had coming in. It was good to see her have a good performance. I thought Taya put together a couple of good practices to give herself an opportunity to play tonight.”
As the Aggies march toward conference play, Robinson also thought it was positive that the Aggies got a chance to build their bench while two of his standouts heal. He did not like seeing his team shoot 4-for-28 from the line, however.
The Aggies woes at the line helped the Rams stay in the game. WSSU trailed 46-44 going into the fourth quarter and the Rams even took the lead at 47-46 a minute into the fourth. The Aggies used their two bigs to regain the lead as junior Le’on Hill threw the ball down to Lessears for a layup. N.C. A&T junior guard Mikaya Wilson followed that with a steal and rocket pass to sophomore Morgan Batie in transition for a corner jump shot to give the Aggies a 50-47 lead.
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Another Wilson steal led to a transition basket for Hill. Wilson continued her defensive torture over the Rams with a steal and layup to complete the Aggies 8-0 run. WSSU halted the Aggies run temporarily with two Teara Johnson free throws. But the Aggies scored the next five points to take a 59-49 lead as Hill followed a Charnise Tyler miss with 4:38 to play in the game. It was the Aggies final field goal, but it was enough to hold off the determined Rams.
N.C. A&T (1-2) scored the first nine points of the game. They took their biggest lead of the half at 28-18 with 1:08 remaining in the first half before a Johnson bucket sent the Rams into the locker room down 28-20. Johnson led the Rams with 17 points.
“We’ve got to get back in the gym and put in the hours and time to get better,” said Robinson. “Right now, I think that is what is missing from this group. They think you can get it all in practice and you can’t. We have a good group of young women, they will learn from this, they will start to adjust and do the things necessary to move forward.”
N.C. A&T returns to action 11 a.m., Tuesday to play the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Va.
NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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