14th Seed North Carolina A&T to face Florida State

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N.C. A&T celebrated its first bid to the tournament since 1994 and the highest seed ever for a MEAC team after winning the conference tournament Saturday. The Aggies (26-6) are seeded 14th in the Trenton Regional and will face third-seeded Florida State (25-7) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Duluth, Ga. The game will be televised on ESPN2 at 2 p.m.

"A fourteenth seed just shows the kind of respect these young ladies have earned over the last two seasons," A&T coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs said after watching the selection show with her team and fans Monday night at the student union. "We are excited, but we are not just happy to be there. We're going to come ready to play."

For the Seminoles (25-7, 12-2 ACC), it was exactly what they wanted: A neutral setting close to home. The No. 3 seed was just an added touch of sweetness. "We started getting a little restless," FSU forward Jacinta Monroe said. "I guess we thought they forgot to put our names up there. The seed and the region we're in, there are going to be tough teams, but it's definitely a region we can take."

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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- N.C. A&T junior forward Jaleesa Sams made the best of Friends and Family night at Corbett Sports Center Saturday. Fifty-to-60 people from her hometown of New Castle, Pa., bused to Greensboro to watch her play. She rewarded their long trip by scoring a career-high 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting and had six rebounds and five steals to lead the A&T women's basketball team to an 84-60 win over Howard. The Aggies (21-6, 13-1 MEAC) clinched their second-straight MEAC regular-season title.

"I always play better with my family in the stands because they are my worst critics,'' Sams said. "I have no other choice but to play well. It was very important that I got out there and played. They told me if I didn't play tonight they weren't going to speak to me."

Aggies put together back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time and Coach Cage-Bibbs building strong case as the best coach in HBCU women's basketball ever!

Sams' outing was satisfying because she had missed the previous two games with a leg injury. She has missed seven games this season, and A&T head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs was happy to see her back. "We were just happy to have Jaleesa back,'' Bibbs said. "The way Jaleesa played tonight, I wish all of our players would have a busload of people come in every time we play." The Aggies also got a lift from Ta'Wuana Cook. Cook came off the bench to score 12 points, dish out three assists and record three steals. Brittanie Taylor-James added 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the free throw line.

Box Score

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