North Carolina A&T Aggies Beat No. 18 Liberty Lady Flames

Greensboro, N.C. - The A.C. was definitely on in Corbett Sports Center on Friday night.

Redshirt junior Amber Calvin matched a career-high by scoring 24 points to help propel the North Carolina A&T women's basketball team (2-2) to an 81-74 win against Liberty (1-2), who was ranked 18th among mid-major schools by CollegeInsider.com.

"Amber is as cool as she wants to be when she's doing it," said N.C. A&T head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. "It's just great to have her back and to have Mikala (Scott)."

Scott finished with 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting. Calvin, who had just 16 points in her first three games, more than doubled her point total with her strong performance. The redshirt sophomore out of Fayetteville, N.C., returned this season after injuring her knee before the start of the 2010-11 season.

She went 6-for-8 from beyond the arc, with four of those coming in the first half, and 6-for-8 at the free throw line. Junior forward JaQuayla Berry had 16 points for the Aggies.

With 11:18 on the clock, the Flames pulled within seven points on a layup by Devon Brown, who finished the game with 14 points. The Aggies went five minutes without scoring, a drought that ended with 7:03 to play, as Berry hit a layup to give the Aggies a three-point lead.

Catherine Kearney brought the Flames within one, at 60-59 with a layup with 6:05 left on the clock. From there, the Aggies worked to keep out of their reach, with layups and free throws. Calvin had five free throws in the last two minutes to help put the game away for the Aggies. The Aggies, in addition to having a strong shooting night, ended the game with just 15 turnovers.

Box Score:  Aggies vs. Liberty

"They're a very young team, and to not lose their composure and to just keep doing positive things, is a sign that the chemistry is coming," Bibbs said.

The Aggies finished the first half with a 43-35 lead, propelled by 12 points by Calvin, all of which came from her strong 3-point shooting, 11 points by Scott, who also had a pair from beyond the arc, and 10 points by sophomore Tiffanie Adair.

Liberty pulled ahead to a quick 4-0 lead, but a pair of three-points from Scott and Calvin tied the game at 6. The Aggies took a 17-10 lead with a three-pointer from Calvin, and never trailed again. The Aggies hammered the bigger Flames on the inside, as Adair got inside the paint to score three times in the last five minutes of the first half.

The win marks the 488th career victory for Bibbs, who is now 12 away from joining the 500 win club. For Bibbs, this win against Liberty is one she really wanted.

"We didn't tell the ladies what this team was ranked. They found out later," she said. "I lost to this team, very close each time, seven times, not only here, but when I was at Hampton. I really wanted this win, I really did, and they gave it to me. "

The Aggies will be taking on ACC opponent Clemson on Monday at 7 p.m., in Corbett Sports Center. General admission tickets are $7, but N.C. A&T students can get into the game for free by showing their student OneCard. Bibbs hopes the momentum from the win against a ranked team will help the Aggies in Monday's match-up.

"This really shows us that we can play, that we can do all the things that we need to do. I think more than anything that Monday night is going to be a very, very tough game for us, but I think we're going to be ok, if we play like we did tonight," she said.

Courtesy: NC A&T Sports Information

NCA&T Aggies run away with 31-21 win over rival NCCU Eagles

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The tone for North Carolina Central University’s day against rival North Carolina A&T was set on its opening drive. The Eagles moved the ball deep into Aggie territory, but lost a fumble. NCCU played catch-up the rest of the afternoon as A&T regained bragging rights in the series with a 31-21 win in front of 18,413 fans inside Aggie Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.

A&T took that opening fumble down the field 77 yards on 11 plays to take an early 7-0 advantage. In the second quarter, the Aggies converted on fourth down and later on third down and 12 yards to go quarterback Lewis Kindle threw a 37-yard touchdown to Wallace Miles to push the lead to 14-0 at 12:27.



That 14-point cushion proved to be too much for the Eagles to overcome. Each time NCCU scored a touchdown, it pulled the squad close, but not even or ahead, and each time the Aggies had an answer.

A&T dominated the ground game, pounding out 213 rushing yards, including 163 rushing yards by senior Mike Mayhew, while holding the Eagles to only nine rushing yards on 19 carries. The Aggies finished the contest with 414 yards of total offense compared to 224 by NCCU.

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SSU Tigers show effort but fall short in season finale to S.C. State

Savannah, Georgia -- It was the final game of the season for Savannah State at the newly renovated T.A. Wright Stadium, and although the Tigers lost to South Carolina State, 20-10, the hard-fought game gave coach Steve Davenport something to build upon.

“Ultimately the sting of the loss is still there, but we can definitely take something positive out of this game,” said Davenport, who finished his first year at the helm of the program with a 1-10 record. “I liked how we fought our butts off today and had a zest for the game.”

The Tigers were coming off losses to Norfolk State (45-3) and Bethune-Cookman (59-3) and hadn’t scored a touchdown since a 47-7 loss to Florida A&M on Oct. 15.

MEAC rival South Carolina State (7-4) scored on its second possession on a 31-yard field goal by Blake Erickson. The 77-yard, 10-play drive was highlighted by a 39-yard pass from quarterback Richard Cue to Dylan Cook.



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FAMU Drum Major Dies On Orlando Trip

Deputies: No Sign Of Foul Play In Robert Champion's Death

Orlando, Florida -- The drum major for Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University died after being found unresponsive in a bus parked outside of an Orlando hotel Saturday night.

Orange County investigators said Robert Champion, 26, was unresponsive on a bus in the parking lot of the Rosen Plaza Hotel on International Drive just before 10 p.m. The band was staying at the hotel during a trip to the Florida Classic game.

Other band members said Champion had thrown up and could not breathe. His friends called 911 and performed CPR. Paramedics took him to Dr. Phillips Hospital, where he died.

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Deputies: FAMU student found unresponsive on bus

Orange County Sheriff's deputies said a Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University student who died, fell ill and collapsed while aboard a bus parked outside an Orlando hotel where the school's marching band was staying.

Robert Champion, 26, was on the bus with the FAMU marching band in front of the Rosen Plaza hotel on International Drive Saturday when he started vomiting and complained that he couldn't breathe, according to Orange County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ginette Rodriguez.

Friends called 911 and performed CPR, she said.

Deputies arrived about 9:46 p.m. to find Champion unresponsive, and they transported him to Dr. Phillips hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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Rare mistakes motivate Tuskegee's crack cornerback Baker

Tuskegee, Alabama -- Cornerbacks aren't supposed to dwell on failures. With so many pass plays in the average game, and with such a small margin for error, coaches like their defensive backs to shake off bad plays and dumb mistakes quickly. Let it go. Don't think about it again. Move on and play better next time. That's the coach-speak.

Tuskegee cornerback Kenneth Baker takes a different approach. "I remember every time I've been beaten," Baker said. "I can remember them all, and I think about them."

For instance, when talking about Alabama State's standout receiver Nick Andrews, two plays come immediately to Baker's mind -- a missed tackle and a double move.

"He got me on that double move last year -- I'll be watching for that this year," Baker said. "There was a missed tackle once, too. That's what I remember about facing him."

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Bell City's Johnson signs to play volleyball at South Carolina State

Bell City, Missouri -- South Carolina State volleyball coach Donika Sutton discovered a gem during her trip to a Missouri Class 1 sectional volleyball match last season. Sutton, who is from Hayti, Missouri, and was an assistant coach at South Carolina State last season, watched Bell City's Jasmine Johnson lead the Cubs into the state quarterfinal round last season.

"She approached me and was like, 'We're thinking about looking at you from South Carolina State,'" Johnson said. "I didn't know where it was or even heard of it. It's a four-year university, and I was like, 'OK, I want to go there.'"

Johnson visited the South Carolina State campus in early October and finalized her decision last week when she signed a letter of intent to continue her volleyball career with the Bulldogs. "The campus, I like that, the dorm, the team," Johnson said. "The coach I liked a lot. Plus the coach is from down here, so I was like, 'OK.'"

Johnson said she also considered Southeast Missouri State and Murray State as well as some junior colleges before deciding on South Carolina State, which ...

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XU Gold Nuggets' early run buries Huston-Tillotson

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana -- Seven players scored in an early 17-0 run Saturday which carried NAIA No. 16 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 72-41 women's basketball victory against Huston-Tillotson.

The Lady Rams (0-1) scored the first two points, then went scoreless for nearly 7½ minutes. The Gold Nuggets (4-1) led 33-21 at halftime, and the final margin was the game's largest.

Keldra Hall, with 12 points, was Xavier's only double-figure scorer, but 13 teammates scored. Jasmine Grant made three 3-pointers in the first half, and Jazmoné Kelly grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds. SiMon Franklin and Carmen Holcombe scored eight points apiece.

Kandice Smith scored 15 points for Huston-Tillotson, and Jasmine Dukes had 13 points and nine rebounds.

Xavier outshot the Lady Rams 39.5 to 23.1 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 54-37. The Nuggets gained 27 turnovers and had 16 steals, both season bests.

The Gold Nuggets have won 13 straight at The Barn and 112 of the past 119 games in their campus facility, which was built in 1937 but will be replaced next year by a 4,500-seat arena.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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