Thursday, March 19, 2009

Been There: Cage-Bibbs has experience in tournament, even if N.C. A&T players don't

Patricia Cage-Bibbs, who took over at N.C. A&T four seasons ago, has a 423-244 career coaching record. The Lady Aggies will battle a talented Florida State Seminoles team that may be the region's favorite to advance.

One of the luxuries that N.C. A&T will have in the NCAA Women's Tournament is the experience of Coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. Cage-Bibbs has taken two other programs to the tournament (Grambling and Hampton) and knows about all of the hype surrounding the postseason. "You don't get caught up in all of that," she said. "What I'm going to do is just tell them it's a great opportunity, and you just play and execute, and if we do that we'll be trouble for some teams."

The Aggies, regular-season and tournament champions in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, are the 14th seed in the Trenton Regional and will play No. 3 Florida State at 2:30 Saturday in Duluth, Ga. "A 14th seed just shows the kind of respect these young ladies have earned over the last two seasons," said Cage-Bibbs, whose Aggies have the highest seed ever for a MEAC team. "We are excited, but we are not just happy to be there. We're going to come ready to play."

Lady Aggies junior guard Ta'Wuana "Tweet" Cook, Fayetteville, N.C. Seventy-First H.S., is ready to play the FSU Seminoles.

This will be A&T's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1994, but the Aggies gained some postseason experience last season in the WNIT, where they lost to South Carolina 102-74. Cage-Bibbs, who has had just four losing seasons in her 23-year career, took over at A&T four seasons ago and has turned her program into one of the MEAC's best.

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