PRINCESS ANNE, Md. (February 20, 2017) – The North Carolina A&T women's basketball team made a furious comeback in the fourth quarter but fell short to Maryland Eastern Shore, 58-50, at Hytche Athletic Center Monday night.
The Aggies (11-15, 7-6 MEAC) dropped both games during their final 2016-17 regular-season road trip. The Aggies will play their final three games at home inside the comforts of Corbett Sports Center where they are 4-1 against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference foes this season. A strong finish could still yield the Aggies one of the four first-round byes available at the MEAC tournament (March 6-11) in Norfolk, Va.
Graduate guard Aliyah Kilpatrick led the Aggies with 12 points. Freshman, the reigning MEAC Rookie of the Week, had another excellent game on the glass with 13 rebounds. MDES won their fourth straight game over the Aggies behind 11 points and 10 rebounds from Moengaroa Subritzky. N.C. A&T fought back from a double-digit halftime deficit at 29-16, to get to within four, as Lessears put back a Kilpatrick miss with 1:16 remaining in the third quarter to make it a 34-30 score. Subritzky pushed back on the Aggies' rally with a 3-pointer before junior Kala Green found Kilpatrick open for an open jump shot to put the Aggies down 37-32 going into the fourth.
After two MDES free throws opened the final quarter, freshman Cinia McCray swished a 3-pointer to get the Hawks lead down to four again, 39-35. The Hawks rebuilt their double-digit lead behind a 9-0 run sparked by Ra'Jean Martin who scored four of her seven points on the night during the run. The run only gave the Aggies 4 ½ minutes to overcome the Hawks' 48-35 lead.
Two Kilpatrick free throws helped the cause as she took the lead down to 50-41 with 3:16 to play. Fifth-year guard Dana Brown, who had a career-high seven assists, had one of those assists when she found junior Michelle Fitzgerald in the paint for another two points to get the Aggies' deficit down to seven. Brown then followed a Subritzky layup by knocking down her only 3-pointer of the night to make it a 52-46 game with 1:59 remaining.
Another stop defensively by N.C. A&T, led to more heartache for the Hawks as Green netted another three off a pass from Brown to get the game to within three, 52-49 with a minute remaining. The Aggies, however, were not able to get any closer as the Hawks went 6-for-6 from the free throw line over the final minute to secure the win. The Hawks improved to 11-13 overall and 5-8 in the MEAC.
N.C. A&T begins their three-game home stand 2 p.m., Saturday against Savannah State before facing the top team in the conference in Bethune-Cookman Monday night at 5:30. The Aggies home finale will be against arch-rival North Carolina Central 5:30 p.m., Thursday, March 2.
