DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina Central duo of Anissa Rivera and Kieche White were once again scoring threats the North Carolina A&T women's basketball team had a hard time containing. 
 
Nearly three weeks after they combined to score 53 points in a win over the Aggies in East Greensboro, Rivera and White teamed to score 35 points in a 65-52 win over N.C. A&T at McDougald-McLendon Arena Thursday night.
 
The loss means the Aggies 20-win season has been put on hold for a few days. It also means the Aggies will go into the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championship Basketball Tournament, March 9-14, as the No. 4 seed. They will get another shot at White, Rivera and the fifth-seeded Eagles for a third time noon Thursday, March 12 at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va. 
 
 The Aggies will go into the tournament with a 19-9 overall record as they finished 11-5 in the MEAC. Junior Deja Winters led the Aggies with 15 points.
 
"I still think this team is good enough to win the tournament," said N.C. A&T coach Tarrell Robinson. "We just have to refocus and maintain our confidence. We know how good of a team we are. We have been the caliber team we want to be this season. It's not like we have to look back to last year. We've performed very well at times, but we haven't handled adversity."
 
Robinson said he is going to give his team two days off so that they can, "hit the reset button." The Aggies endured their first-ever sweep by their archrivals after the Eagles won in double overtime on Feb. 15. 
 
On Feb. 15, Rivera scored 26 points and had 12 rebounds. She had another double-double on Thursday with 18 points and 10 rebounds. White had 27 points at Corbett and followed that up with 17 points on 11-for-14 shooting from the free throw line. 
 
It was White's halfcourt shot at the buzzer to end the third quarter that gave NCCU (12-17, 9-7 MEAC) their biggest lead of the game at the time, 46-39. The Aggies fought back to cut the lead to one to open the fourth quarter as sophomore Kennedy Boyd and sophomore Taya Jones each hit 3-pointers. 
 
But N.C. A&T never got any closer. A 3-pointer from Rivera and another three from White stretched the Eagles lead out to seven, 52-45 with 7:35 remaining in the game. N.C. A&T methodically cut into NCCU's lead again as two Winters free throws from a technical foul called on White cut the Eagles lead to 53-50 with 2:30 to play. 
 
NCCU responded with a runner in the lane by Zaria Atkins. Atkins then hit two free throws to push the lead to 57-50. After a Jasmen Walton jumper got the Aggies to within five at 57-52, the Eagles spent the rest of their time hitting free throws. 
 
"In a rivalry game they were the better team," said Robinson. "I think Kieche White is one of the best guards in this league. She started slow but that halfcourt 3-pointer she hit going into the fourth quarter got her going. She closed the game for them."
 
The Eagles jumped out to a 6-0 lead and led 15-12 at the end of the first quarter. A 3-pointer from Winters in the second quarter started the Aggies on a 14-2 run that included freshman Shayla Nelson tying the game at 19 with 6:39 remaining in the half and a Winters steal and layup giving the Aggies their biggest lead of the game, five, at 26-21 with 4:13 remaining in the half. 
 
The Aggies held on to the lead until two Paulina Afriyie free throws gave the Eagles a 29-28 halftime lead. In Norfolk, the Aggies will be looking for their fifth MEAC tournament title and their third under Robinson. 
 
"It's great to know you have championship experience but it's also disheartening because we know we have it, we're just not seeing it," said Robinson. "For some reason, we've shown it spurts but have not consistently shown it throughout a game."