Courtesy of NCAT Athletics
GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team is headed to the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT). The Aggies, 2024-25 Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) regular-season champions, will play at No. 1 seed Virginia Tech of the ACC on Thursday, March 20 at Cassell Coliseum. A time has not been determined. The game will air live on ESPN+. Thursday’s winner will play on March 23 against the Wyoming/Texas Tech winner. The Aggies were the only HBCU team selected for this year’s tournament field
Aggies vs Hokies
As the No. 1 seed in their bracket, the Hokies enter the WBIT as one of the last four teams left of the Field of 68 in the NCAA tournament. The Hokies, 18-12 this season, join Colorado, James Madison, and St. Joseph’s as No. 1 seeds. Virginia Tech will be the Aggies’ third ACC opponent this season after losing to SMU and the University of North Carolina (UNC).
The Aggies will enter the tournament 19-11. They went 15-3 in CAA play to win the regular season in only their third year in the league as one of two HBCU programs in the conference. CAA tournament champion William & Mary eliminated the Aggies from the 2025 CAA Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament on Friday in the quarterfinals, 74-66, at CareFirst Arena in Washington, DC.
North Carolina A&T opened the season with a tough schedule, including NCAA tournament teams UNC, Liberty, Florida Gulf Coast, and Norfolk State. Over their first nine games, the Aggies went 2-7, but over their final 20 regular season games, they went 17-3. They won those 17 games by an average of 14.7 points. Included in those games were two wins over William & Mary, the CAA representative in the NCAA tournament.
Senior guard Jordyn Dorsey leads the Aggies. She is a two-time first-team All-CAA performer and the Aggies’ all-time assist leader with 398. She needs two assists on Thursday to become the first Aggie in program history with 400 or more assists. Dorsey also made the CAA all-defensive team. She averages 2.17 per game.
A&T also features third-team all-conference performers in graduate guard Maleia Bracone and junior center Chaniya Clark.
Aggies no slouch
Tarrell Robinson, who is in his 13th season as A&T’s women’s basketball coach, won the 2024-25 CAA Coach of the Year award. This marks the first time in his career he has won conference coach of the year despite possessing five regular-season titles and three conference tournament titles during his time as an HBCU women’s basketball head coach.
The Aggies will make their eighth postseason appearance under Robinson, who has three NCAA appearances, four WNITs, and a recent WBIT bid. He is one win shy of his seventh 20-win season.
Virginia Tech went 9-9 in the ACC in 2024-25. The Hokies earned an impressive win over Georgia Tech, who was ranked at the time. They also beat NCAA-tournament-bound Louisville. They were 3-0 against CAA schools, including Elon, Campbell, and UNC Wilmington.
Four Hokies are averaging double-figures in scoring, led by Carleigh Wenzel at 14.5 points per game. Matilda Ekh is the main threat from 3-point range. She makes 40.1 percent (61-152) of her threes. The ACC squad shoots 38.6 percent from 3-point range, which ranks fourth nationally.
The HBCU program is also the 13th-best shooting team in the nation, making 46.8 percent of their shots. On the other hand, the Aggies rank 14th nationally in scoring defense, 38th in field goal percentage defense, and 20th in 3-point field goal percentage defense.
The Hokies lead the all-time series, 2-0. The last time the two teams played, the Hokies defeated A&T 58-39 on December 28, 2012, at Cassell Coliseum. Watch North Carolina A&T take on Virginia Tech at the WBIT on Thursday, March 20 at 6 pm on ESPN+.