GREENSBORO – Two of the country’s best HBCU and mid-major women’s basketball programs over recent years faced each other in Corbett Sports Sunday afternoon.
One of those teams, the Norfolk State Spartans, left Corbett with a 68-59 win. The other, the North Carolina A&T Aggies, will return to the drawing board to figure out some things before the New Year and Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play.
The Spartans, the 11th-ranked team in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll, outscored the Aggies 40-20 in the paint to improve to 9-3 during the 2024-25 season. Meanwhile, the Aggies dropped to 2-6 despite Elon transfer Ajia James having her best game in an Aggies uniform, scoring 13 points off the bench on 3-for-5 shooting from 3-point range.
“We are preseason No. 1. But we are preseason No. 1 for the CAA. This ain’t the CAA yet,” said A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson. “We have to keep working. We have to keep encouraging one another. We have to keep being accountable.”
Robinson wants his team to keep score of excuses made and accountability taken. If accountability wins, his team is on the right track to achieve their championship goals. The Aggies should take into account that there were some opportunities against their former Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) that they didn’t take advantage of.
“I thought the first quarter we dug a hole for ourselves and then made a run in the second,” said Robinson. “We ran out of gas in terms of our focus. Missed layups. Missed free throws. We got to the free throw line 29 times and missed nine. Just a lot of blown opportunities.”
Norfolk took a 13-4 lead over the first seven minutes of the game before taking a 23-11 lead on a Diamond Johnson 3-pointer with 7:20 remaining in the first half. The Spartans maintained a double-digit lead four minutes later at 27-16 before two Delaney Yarborough free throws and a Maleia Bracone 3-pointer got the Aggies going.
Da’Brya Clark, who led the Spartans with 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor and 4-for-4 shooting from the line, ended A&T’s run with a layup. However, a Jordyn Dorsey steal became a Bracone layup to send the Aggies into the locker room trailing 29-23.
The Spartans rebuilt their double-digit advantage in the third quarter, taking a 38-28 lead over the first 4 ½ minutes of the second half. But Yarborough scored in the paint, followed by a James three to get the Aggies to within five.
What would become frustrating for the Aggies is that they could get no closer than five over the game’s final 15 minutes, thanks to Norfolk taking advantage of the finer details.
“We talked to our young women about 50-50 plays,” said Robinson. “We didn’t have any. They did. They stayed consistent, and you start to open up the game when you do that.”
The two defensive-minded teams combined for 50 turnovers in the game, but the Spartans recorded 17 steals compared to A&T’s seven. Bracone added 10 points and five assists for A&T, and Dorsey had seven points, six assists, and five assists.
A&T center Chaniya Clark had nine points but was limited to 17 minutes of action because of early foul trouble. A&T will head to Clark’s hometown of Fort Myers, Fla., to play in the FGCU Holiday Classic hosted by Florida Gulf Coast University, Dec. 20-21. The Aggies will close conference play with a New Year’s Eve contest at Corbett against Division II Mount Olive.
“We just have to find winner’s habits,” said Robinson. “The old saying is don’t dig a hole for yourself. Right now, the dirt is high. We have to cover that hole back up, and it will take more than a couple of practices. It will take some consistency in games and quarters to get the results we want.”
