EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T senior guard Cinia McCray and junior forward Deja Winters did their best to keep the Aggies women's basketball team competitive after several of their teammates fouled out, but they could not quite pull it off as N.C. Central defeated the Aggies 86-80 in double overtime at Corbett Sports Center.

 The Aggies dropped to 16-8 overall and 8-4 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, while the Eagles improved to 8-16 overall and 5-6 in the MEAC.

 "This is what you expect from any rivalry game," head coach Tarrell Robinson said.  "Great crowd. Great atmosphere. A lot of competitive play. We've got a lot of work to do.  We've got to bounce back from this tough loss, but I think it was a valiant effort from our young women with being in so much foul trouble.  Central shot 33 free throws and made 23 of them yet we were still be able to perform and push it into two overtimes. I'm proud of our young women for that."

Winters recorded six points in the first half but finished with 19 points, five assists and four rebounds. McCray recorded four points in the first half but finished with a team-high 22 to go along with five rebounds. Junior Jayla Jones-Pack added 10 points and four rebounds. 

"She played 47 minutes, which is what you expect from a senior during this time of the year," Robinson said of McCray. "We want her to step up and play the level of basketball that we want to see her play."

In a game that the Eagles spent 86 percent of the game in the lead, the Aggies captured their first lead after a McCray 3-pointer made it 63-62 with 3:10 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Aggies took a two-point lead at 65-63 when Le'on Hill found Jones-Pack inside for a layup with 2:38 to play. The Eagles tied the game at 65 with 1:16 to play when Anissa Rivera followed up a miss from teammate Kieche White.

Both team exchanged turnovers before White missed a potential game-winner for the Eagles with eight seconds remaining in regulation.

The Eagles scored the first five points of the first overtime period to take a five-point lead, 70-65, with 2:49 left.

But Winters hit a 3-pointer and then scored on a layup to tie the game at 70 with 2:14 remaining in overtime No. 1. After an Eagle free throw, sophomore guard Kennedy Boyd hit a 3-pointer to give the Aggies a 73-71with 1:12 left.

NCCU's White drove the lane and tied the game at 73 with 1:03 remaining in overtime. The Aggies misfired on a 3-pointer and missed a layup to send the game into the second overtime.

A Boyd 3-pointer gave the Aggies a 76-75 lead with 3 ½ minutes remaining. But the Eagles went on an 8-0 run highlighted by a Rivera 3-pointer that gave the Eagles a comfortable 83-76 with 1:46 to play.

The Eagles took advantage of huge differential at the free throw line as NCCU hit 23 of 33 from the line while the Aggies were just 5 of 12.

NCCU, who has only defeated the Aggies seven times in 37 tries, came out firing as well. They shot 75 percent in the first quarter to take 21-15 lead.

NCCU grabbed a 24-17 lead in the second quarter. A free throw, a Hill jump shot and a layup from Jones-Pack helped the Aggies cut the lead to 24-22 with 7:02 remaining in the first half. The Eagles built their lead back to 32-25 before going into half leading 34-28.

McCray and Jones had a big third quarter combining for 19 of the 23 points scored in the quarter.  McCray had 11 points, while Jones scored all of her points of the game in the quarter with nine as the Aggies went into fourth quarter trailing 57-51.

The Eagles were led by White with 27 points. Rivera added 26 points and 12 rebounds.

The Aggies finish their three-game homestand with Howard Saturday at 2 p.m. for Senior Day and Maryland Eastern Shore Monday at 5:30 p.m.