EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T won the rematch from last year with an 80-69 win over East Tennessee State at Corbett Sports Center Monday night after falling to the Buccaneers last season in Johnson City, Tenn.

“It was a physical game,” head coach Tarrell Robinson said.  “They shot 38 free throws and we shot 45 free throws.  The whistles were blowing. I told our women at halftime, they played harder and hustled. I told them that they have to understand that we were last season's MEAC champions and went undefeated in the conference. They're playing like they're trying to upset us or beat us at home.”

The Aggies (2-2) had two starters battling injuries with junior guard Deja Winters not dressing and senior center Alexus Lessears banged up. Senior Cinia McCray stepped up in their absence with 23 points on and 7-for-15 shooting.

“She shot the ball extremely well,” Robinson said.  “Cinia is someone that we want to count on this year.  It's good to see her mentally getting back into it by being our leading scorer and making some major plays for us.”

Junior forward Jayla Jones-Pack recorded her first double-double as an Aggie with 14 points and 11 rebounds. She added two blocks while shooting 4-for-10 from the floor.

“She was a major impact,” Robinson said.  “It's great to know because (6-foot-3 Alexus Lessears) is a dominating presence, it's good to know that when you relieve her you have someone else that can dominate. Jayla worked this week. We got into the gym and worked on some of those post moves that she was finishing. She really wanted to perform well.”

The final Aggie to step up was senior Mikaya Wilson with 15 points. She added four assists, four rebounds and two steals on 4-for-8 shooting.

“She knocked down some timely free throws going 7-for-11 at the line,” Robinson said.  “We knew that if they tried to press us that Mikaya would be able to beat it on her own with her athleticism and her explosion. She did a good job of picking her times to finish all the way to the basket with some of our sets.”

The Aggies went into the half trailing ETSU 33-25.

N.C. A&T got physical in the second half and outrebounded the Bucs 42-39 for the game. The Aggies also forced 27 ETSU turnovers to lead to 21 N.C. A&T points.

After intermission, McCray hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to four points, 35-31. Later in the third quarter, N.C. A&T's momentum continued as they went on a 9-0 run to grab a 47-43 lead with 1:56 to go in the third. The Aggies grew their lead to 53-45 in the third on two Jones-Pack free throws and a coast-to-coast layup by Wilson. ETSU (1-3) scored the final three points in the quarter to go into the fourth trailing by five, 53-48.

In the fourth, N.C. A&T took advantage of 12 ETSU turnovers in the quarter, scoring nine points off of takeaways.

The Buccaneers were still able to tie things up at 60 with 4:11 remaining, however. It was all Aggies after that. A 10-0 Aggies run was aided by the team going 6-for-6 at the free throw line during the spurt gave the Aggies a 70-60 lead with 1:57 to play. Hill and Wilson had four points apiece during the run.

ETSU never got any closer than seven points the rest of the way. The Aggies made an impressive 30 free throws to clinch the win.

The Bucs were led by Micah Scheetz with 26 points and with five assists. Erica Haynes-Overton who came into the game averaging 27.7 points, scored just 10 points.

The Aggies start a three-game road swing with two games in Chicago, Ill., this weekend.  N.C. A&T face No. 16 Miami Friday at 1:30 p.m. and faces either No. 18 DePaul or Arkansas Saturday for the Maggie Dixson Classic.