GREENSBORO, N.C. - After earning a five-point victory
over North Carolina A&T just under a month ago in Daytona Beach, using
strong defense and ball control, it was a completely different story for
Bethune-Cookman in Saturday's 56-31 road loss to the Lady Aggies.
"We definitely had a lack of focus," Head Coach Vanessa
Blair said. "From the beginning of the game, it never felt like we got on the
same page offensively."
A slow-starting Lady Wildcats offense gave the Lady
Aggies the opening to build up a 12-0 lead before B-CU put a score on the board,
with Chastity René Taylor going hard to the rack with 10:03 on the clock for B-CU's first points.
Each time the Lady
Wildcats got something going, N.C. A&T countered with an even bigger
response, extending the deficit to 33-10 at the half.
B-CU proved tougher on defense in the second half, while
starting to move on offense as well, as Shakeyia Colyer came off the bench and
was more an active shooter in the second period. The Lady Aggies held a 23-21
second half margin.
At the final buzzer, N.C. A&T topped B-CU 56-31,
holding the Lady Wildcats to their lowest scoring total of the year.
The Lady Wildcats gave up 28 turnovers on the day,
granting the Lady Aggies 25 points on 14 steals. The fouling differential also
was not in B-CU's favor, with a foul margin of 18-to-10, providing 20 Lady
Aggies free throw attempts (13 made) to B-CU's five attempts (two made).
"It comes back to a lack of focus," Blair said. "It's
not that we did not know what to do; it's just that we were very lackadaisical in
doing it."
Colyer scored all of her 12 points in the second half,
shooting 71 percent and knocking down a pair of threes to provide B-CU with
some momentum.
The loss takes Bethune-Cookman to 10-11 on the year and
5-4 in MEAC play. The ladies will continue the current road swing in the Tarheel
State on Monday (Feb. 11) night as they rematch with North Carolina Central
(0-22, 0-9 MEAC) in Durham at 5:30 p.m.
For all the latest information on the Bethune-Cookman
Wildcats, follow the official Twitter feed, @BCUathletics, or "Like
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