FARMVILLE, Va. – A slow start to the second half for the North Carolina A&T women's basketball team helped Longwood pull away Wednesday night in Big South Conference play as the Lancers completed the regular-season sweep of the Aggies in an 85-71 win at Willett Hall.
Longwood (14-11, 11-3 Big South) remained in the hunt for a top-four seed in next month's Big South tournament. Meanwhile, the Aggies (12-13, 9-6 Big South) lost on the road for the first time in five games.
"Longwood defended their home court with great effort and energy," A&T coach Tarrell Robinson said.
"We did not match their desire to win the game tonight. We allowed a couple of bad possessions on offense and defense to open the game up early in the third quarter. We did not recover from it."
The signs of a third-quarter run by the Lancers began toward the end of the first half. The Lancers scored the final five points of the first half to tie the game at 38.
Nine seconds into the second half, Kyla McMakin's 3-pointer gave the Lancers a 41-38 lead. It catapulted a 16-4 Longwood run that culminated in a McMakin layup to give the Lancers a 54-42 lead with 5:28 remaining in the third quarter.
Longwood grew their lead to as many as 13, 61-48, with 2:44 remaining in the third quarter. But a Sean Kelly Darks 3-pointer fueled an Aggies run to close the third. Over the final 2:44 of the third, the Aggies outscored the Lancers 11-5 using Darks' 3-pointer, four free throws from center Jazmin Harris and a Jordyn Dorsey jumper at the third-quarter buzzer to go into the fourth quarter trailing 66-59.
The good times kept rolling for A&T in the fourth as Harris' layup cut the lead to 66-61. But Longwood center Akila Smith scored five straight points, including converting a 3-point play during a 9-0 Lancers run to increase their lead to 75-61 with 5:36 left.
A&T never got to within single digits as Smith led the Lancers with 23 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots on 11-for-17 shooting. Tra'dayja Smith added 10 points and 10 assists.
Harris led the Aggies with 18 points and six rebounds. Darks and graduate forward Chanin Scott had 13 points apiece. Scott shot 6-for-12 from the floor, and Darks was 5-for-7. Graduate forward Kiana Adderton had 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Darks hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter to give the Aggies a 15-12 lead at the 2:26 mark. Her jumper gave the Aggies a 17-14 lead a minute later. The Lancers scored the final four points to provide Longwood with an 18-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Aggies took their biggest lead of the half at 38-33, with 43 seconds remaining in the first half before Longwood made its late second-half run.
