NORFOLK, Va. – North Carolina A&T's three seniors combined for 38 points that included a team-high 22 points from forward Deja Winters and a double-double from forward Jayla Jones-Pack to advance to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) championship game with a 69-54 win over Morgan State in Friday's semifinal game at the Norfolk Scope Arena.
The Aggies (13-2) are in the title game for the fourth time in the nine-year tenure of head coach Tarrell Robinson. The Aggies are 2-1 in championship finals under Robinson.
The top seed in the MEAC south, the Aggies, moves on to face the north's top seed, the Howard Bison, at 3:30 p.m., Saturday, March 13 on ESPN3.
"We are playing a really, really tough Howard team," said Robinson. "Coach Ty Grace has a just as young a group as mine, but they are playing out of their minds. I don't think her young women even realize how well they are playing. It's going to be a tough game, and we are excited about it."
Jones-Pack finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Graduate Chanin Scott recorded a game-high 12 rebounds along with eight assists and six points. Freshman guard Sean Kelly Darks added nine points and six assists and shot 4-for-9 from the field.
Winters shot 8-for-16 from the floor, including 6-for-11 behind the arc, and added four steals, four assists and two blocks.
"I missed a couple of shots early on," Winters said on her 2-for-6 start for the game. "My teammates have confidence in me, and coach Robinson has confidence in me."
N.C. A&T shot 42.2 (27-for-64) percent from the field, including shooting 50.0 (8-for-16) percent from 3-point range. The Aggies, who have the No.1 defense in the MEAC, held the Bears to 28.6 percent shooting from the floor, and they were 0-for-10 from 3-point range. The Aggies also forced the Bears to 16 turnovers, blocked seven shots and recorded 11 steals.
The Aggies led from start-to-finish. Two Dahnye Redd free throws with 5:04 remaining in the game pulled Morgan State to within seven at 58-51. Winters answered with a jump shot to extend the Aggies lead to nine. Two more Morgan free throws make it a seven-point game again before layups from Winters and Jada Smith gave the Aggies a double-figure lead at 62-51 with 2:56 to play.
Tucker increased that lead to 13 on a pass from Darks forcing a Morgan timeout. Jones-Pack added a free throw to push the Aggies lead to 65-51. A Redd jumper cut the lead to 12 before Darks put the game away with a layup with 55 seconds to play.
"Glad to be back in a championship game here in Norfolk," said Robinson. "I'm really proud of my young women.
We didn't quit and played well, and we put the game away at the end."
N.C. A&T got off to a great start Friday as a Winters 3-pointer gave the Aggies a 14-4 first-quarter lead. By the end of the first quarter, a Ja'Niah Henson layup cut the Aggies lead to 19-11 going into the second quarter.
The Aggies worked their way back to a double-digit lead at 25-15 on a Darks jumper with 4:48 remaining in the half. But a 6-0 run got the Bears to within four before Winters pushed them away with a 3-pointer to end the momentum. Adia Brisker answered with a score in the paint.
However, another Winters three gave the Aggies a 31-23 lead with 1:31 remaining in the half. When Tucker scored on a layup, the Aggies had a 33-23 halftime lead.
The Aggies started to stake their claim to the championship final in the opening of the second half as a Winters three and a Darks 3-point play gave the Aggies a 39-23 lead. The Bears worked hard to get the Aggies lead down to 49-41 going into the fourth quarter.
Brisker led the Bears with 23 points.
