WNIT: North Carolina A&T Aggies set to play Wake Forest

Senior guard Ta’Wuana “Tweet” Cook, first-team all-MEAC, leads the Lady Aggies into the WNIT.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team will see its season continue in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament 7 p.m., Thursday, March 18 against Wake Forest University at Reynolds Gymnasium on the campus of Wake Forest. If the Aggies are able to defeat the Demon Deacons of the ACC, they will play the winner of Thursday’s Gardner-Webb at Charlotte contest. The location of the second round game will be announced after the first round contests. The Aggies (21-10) earned the WNIT bid as an automatic qualifier after winning the MEAC regular-season championship for the third straight season. Thursday’s game will mark the third straight season the Aggies have participated in postseason play.

Wake Forest To Host NC A&T In WNIT Opening Round

Winston-Salem, N.C. - The Wake Forest women's basketball team will open the 2010 Women's National Invitation Tournament with North Carolina A&T on Thursday, March 18 at 7 p.m. in Reynolds Gymnasium on Wake Forest's Reynolda Campus. The winner will advance to face either Charlotte or Gardner-Webb at a location that will be announced following the first round conclusion. The invitation marks the second consecutive WNIT appearance for the Demon Deacons.

Last season Wake Forest received a first round bye and faced Georgetown in the second round in Winston-Salem, where the Deacs fell 72-61. Wake Forest (18-13) last faced North Carolina A&T (21-10) in 2004, taking a 92-43 win in Winston-Salem.

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Former Delaware State coach dies of cancer

Photo: Coach Jeff Battle, husband to Joyce Battle.

Joyce Battle, the wife of Associate Head Coach Jeff Battle of the Wake Forest University men's basketball program, died yesterday of breast cancer at age 44.

The cancer was first diagnosed more than eight years ago, before Jeff Battle left his job as assistant coach at Xavier to accompany Coach Skip Prosser to Wake Forest in April 2001. After Prosser died July 26, 2007, Battle remained at Wake Forest as an assistant to Coach Dino Gaudio.

Joyce Battle was a standout point guard at Fayetteville State University and later an assistant coach at Delaware State University, where she met Jeff Battle. She coached the couple's son, Jordan, 14, in youth basketball. Most recently, she taught and coached basketball at a middle school in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Jeff Battle, known nationally as one of college basketball's top assistant coaches, begins his eighth season at Wake Forest as associate head coach and his 24th season overall in the coaching profession. He served as an assistant coach at Delaware State University for three seasons (1991-93) before advancing to Loyola, Xavier and Wake Forest.