GREENSBORO – It wasn't pretty but the North Carolina A&T women's basketball team fought hard in a 52-47 come-from-behind win over Navy in its 2014-15 season-opener at Corbett Sports Center, Friday evening.
The Aggies (1-0) overcame a 28-22 halftime deficit and held Navy scoreless for nearly eight minutes in the second half to hand the Mids their first loss of the season.
A large portion of Navy's lead in the first half was due to its performance behind the arc where it shot 7-for-14. In the second half, Haley Unger stretched the Mids' lead to 35-26 with less than 16 minutes remaining with a layup from Hannah Fenske.
Navy entered its long scoring drought after Unger's basket which allowed A&T to use an 11-0 run initiated by a pair of free throws from redshirt junior Adriana Nazario and was capped off by a steal and fast break layup from redshirt junior Christina Carter to take the 37-35 edge over Navy at the 7:17 mark.
The Mids didn't go away easily and regained the lead off an Aggie turnover as Unger hit a jumper to push them to a 45-44 edge with 3:12 left in the game. Senior Ariel Bursey answered with a timely 3-pointer just seconds later but Danielle Poblarp tied the game at 47 with a layup at the 2:07 mark.
From that point, the Aggies took advantage of the charity stripe and scored five unanswered points at the free throw line to close out the game.
The Aggies were led by redshirt-junior Aprill McRae who finished with a game-high 12 points. McRae also knocked down 6 of 8 free throws as the Aggies shot 80 percent from the line.
Freshman Kala Green made her debut for A&T and in just 14 minutes of playing time on Friday, the Round Rock, Texas native added eight bench points and three steals. Green also was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line.
Redshirt-junior Eboni Ross also added eight points and a game-high nine rebounds. Redshirt-junior Christina Carter finished with seven points and a game-high seven steals.
A trio of players scored in double figures for Navy as it was led by Unger who finished with 11 points. Sarah Reilly and Justice Swett also added 10 points.
The Aggies will look for their second straight win on Tuesday, Nov. 18 as they host UNC Asheville at 6 p.m. at Corbett Sports Center.
