GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T women's basketball team can start to see it coming together. Monday's 84-64 win over Delaware State at Memorial Hall put the Aggies in a place they have not been all season, the .500 mark.
They got their by winning five of their last six with four of those wins by coming by double digits. The Aggies have also won three straight road games. On Monday, graduate center Aprill McRae scored 16 points and seven rebounds to mark the fourth straight game she has scored in double figures. She is also shooting 63 percent (24-for-38) over that same span. Redshirt junior Dana Brown scored 14 points and junior Whitney Martin came off the bench to add 11 points.
“I'm so excited right now,” said N.C. A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson. “When you win, you're confident, so hopefully we'll keep winning.”
The Aggies (9-9, 5-2 MEAC) beat the Hornets thanks to a hot-shooting second half that saw the Aggies shoot 51.5 percent in the second half which led them to shoot 49 percent for the game. It marked the Aggies second-best shooting performance of the season, and it was the first time in five games they have shot better than 40 percent from the floor.
“The two days off because of the weather was a concern,” said Robinson about the snowstorm that covered the east coast over the weekend and led to the postponement of the Aggies Saturday game against Coppin State to Wednesday. “I didn't know how our rhythm would be,” he continued. “I thought we picked it up going into the second half.”
N.C. A&T only led 43-37 with 4:32 remaining in the third quarter. Brown's 3-pointer off of a Martin pass quickly changed that as the Aggies went ahead by nine. Two 3-point plays, one by sophomore Quenswayla Story and the other by Charnise Tyler were also a part of the Aggies 12-2 run that ballooned their lead to 55-39 with 2:22 remaining in the third quarter.
Junior Kenya Hailey closed out the Aggies third-quarter scoring with a layup with 1:16 remaining that gave the Aggies a 62-42 lead. The Hornets did get the lead down to 11 in the fourth quarter, but consecutive baskets by McRae, Kala Green and Christina Carter put the game out of reach again for the Hornets (5-13, 2-3 MEAC).
Mikah Aldridge led Delaware State with 16 points. N.C. A&T's makeup game against Coppin State will be Wednesday evening at 5:30 in Baltimore.
