DOVER, Del. (February 1, 2017) – North Carolina A&T avoided falling below .500 in the conference with an exciting second-half comeback that flattened Delaware State 68-60 Wednesday night in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women's basketball play at Memorial Hall.
Kala Green had seven points in the third quarter on her way to finish the game with a team-leading 13 points to go with four steals. Dana Brown put away two 3-pointers, finishing with 10 points and Alexus Lessears had a team-leading eight rebounds. As is customary for her, Aliyah Kilpatrick filled the stats sheet with nine points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals.
N.C. A&T (9-13, 5-4 MEAC) trailed by as many as 14 as DSU's Aliah Stinnett hit a layup to give the Hornets a 34-20 lead with 4:11 to play in the first half. It was freshman Cinia McCray who seemed to have placed a fuse into the Aggies slow start. Her 3-pointer was followed by a Brown three to cut the Hornets (3-19, 2-7 MEAC) lead to eight. Kia Abrams ended the half with a layup for the Hornets to give them a 39-28 lead at halftime.
A shift in the Aggies competitive play began in the second half as they pulled within three with 4:09 remaining in the third on a 3-pointer from Green to make it 44-41. Delaware State went on a 6-0 run to increase their lead back to nine points. The Aggies responded with two jumpers from Aliyah Kilpatrick and wrapped up the third quarter with a layup from freshman Le'on Hill to tie up the game at 50. The Aggies kept their run going by increasing it to an 11-0 spurt with two free throws from Brown to go into the fourth quarter leading 52-50.
The Aggies added four more points to their run before the Hornets responded. Brown capped the 15-0 run with a 3-pointer from Brown to give the Aggies a 56-50 lead. N.C. A&T seemed to be all over the court and were aggressive under the basket to build a 61-52. But Delaware State kept chipping at the lead the Aggies built. A four-point play initiated by a 3-pointer from Mikah Aldridge while being fouled by Lessears brought the score to 64-60 with 53 seconds remaining. N.C. A&T, however, calmly clinched the game by going 4-for-4 from the line down the stretch.
N.C. A&T completed its biggest come-from-behind win of the season. They will have 10 days away from competition before hosting Florida A&M on Feb. 11 at Corbett Sports Center at 2 p.m.
