Feb. 23, 2008

Final Stats |  Photo Gallery 

WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Even a sell-out crowd was not enough to help the Lady Rams in an 80-41 loss to North Carolina A&T State University on Saturday evening at the LJVM Coliseum Annex as the visiting Aggies nearly doubled up the Lady Rams behind Amber Bland's game-high 20 points.

The Lady Aggies jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished control of the contest as they used a 50 percent shooting performance from the field in the first half to open up a lead as great as 24 points during the contest's first 20 minutes of play.

NC A&T sprinted ahead to a 10-0 lead over the course of the first 3:01 of play as the Aggies hit four consecutive field goals and a free throw before missing their first shot of the contest. 

A pair of WSSU field goals would cut into the Aggie lead for only a moment as North Carolina A&T used the respite to regroup their offense en route to posting a 26-12 run over the next 10 minutes of play as they closed the half with a 44-20 lead over their Piedmont Triad rival.

Despite a team-high 14 points from WSSU freshman forward Jalessa Byrd the Lady Rams would never mount a challenge to the NC A&T lead as the Aggies' Amber Bland started second half action off with a deep 22-foot three-pointer as NC A&T increased their lead to 27 points.

NC A&T's lead would continue to grow as they led the Lady Rams by as many as 44 points with 4:14 remaining in the contest as Brittane Neely's lay-up gave the Lady Aggies their largest lead of the evening.

The evening would be a difficult one for the Lady Rams as WSSU would shoot only 28.6 percent from the field as Winston-Salem State hit only 10 of their 35 field goals, only three of which would come in the second half.

Conversely, the Lady Aggies turned in a 30-of-62 shooting performance from the field in the contest as NC A&T hit 48.4 percent of their field goal attempts.

Amber Bland led the Lady Aggies with a game-high 20 points as she led four NC A&T players into double figures.  Lamona Smalley tallied 14 points in the win and Britta Taylor-James and Nancy Rember each tallied 11 points in the victory.

WSSU's Jalesa Byrd's career-high 14 points led the Lady Rams as she would be the only Lady Ram to score in double-figures in the loss.

With the defeat, WSSU falls to 2-22 on the season while North Carolina A&T improves to a MEAC-leading 20-5 overall.

WSSU returns to action on Monday, Feb. 25 at 5:30 pm as they play host to the Lady Spartans of Norfolk State University at the LJVM Coliseum Annex.

For additional information on WSSU women's basketball, contact the WSSU Office of Athletic Media Relations at (336) 750-2909 or log on to the Official Website of WSSU Athletics at WSSURams.com.