HAMPTON, Va. – What else is expected from the North Carolina A&T/Hampton women's basketball rivalry? The two teams who combined to win nine of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's (MEAC) last 13 tournaments went into overtime on Sunday as Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) foes.
Junior Maleia Bracone had a career game, scoring a career-high 29 points to lead the Aggies to a 75-70 overtime win over the Pirates at the Convocation Center.
Bracone also tied a career-high with seven made 3-pointers (7-for-10), made a career-high 10 field goals (10-for-15), and played a career-high 42 minutes. Bracone's seven threes tie her for the most in a CAA contest.
The win increases the Aggies lead in the CAA. Their 7-1 record puts them one and a half games ahead of Drexel, Stony Brook and Towson. They are 13-6 overall. Hampton falls to 6-11 overall and 3-4 in the conference.
"This matchup continues to be entertaining for the common basketball fan," said A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson. "I'm so proud of the effort and grit our ladies showed today. (Hampton coach David Six) had his team well-prepared to beat us. We truly earned this victory."
The Aggies certainly did. The game went into overtime, tied at 67. Twenty-one seconds into the OT, Hampton's leading scorer Nylah Young fouled out. A&T center Jazmin Harris turned the pivotal moment into two made free throws before A&T guard Jordyn Dorsey converted an and-one to give the Aggies a 72-67 lead with 2:39 remaining.
After a Hampton free throw, A&T increased its lead to 74-68 after a tip-in by Nyah Willis with 1:33 left. Hampton scored its only basket of the overtime on a layup from Dlayla Chakolis to cut A&T's lead to 74-70 with 68 seconds to play. But the Pirates missed their final two shots of the game and went 1-for-9 shooting in OT.
It was another solid defensive game for the CAA's No. 1 team in field goal percentage defense as the Aggies held Hampton to 35.2 percent shooting from the field and 26.3 percent from three. Despite A&T's defensive effort, neither team led by more than eight on the afternoon.
Hampton led 64-62 with 1:55 remaining in the fourth quarter, but Bracone gave A&T the lead after her seventh 3-pointer. A Victoria Mason turnover turned into a Laila Acox steal, leading to Young's fourth foul.
Bracone made both free throws to increase A&T's lead to 67-64 with 31 seconds remaining in regulation. But Madison Buford connected on her only field goal of the game, a 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to tie the game at 67.
Things became even more interesting when D'Mya Tucker turned the ball over, giving the Pirates a chance to win the game. But Buford missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Harris scored in double figures for the 10th straight game with 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting. Tucker added 10 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks.
Camryn Hill gave Hampton a 12-5 lead at the 2:14 mark on a 3-pointer. It was Hampton's final field goal of the quarter as Bracone hit her first three to send the Aggies into the second quarter trailing 13-10.
Bracone picked up where she left off at the end of the first quarter by hitting a 3-pointer to tie the game at 13. She hit another three as a part of an 8-2 A&T run, giving the Aggies an 18-15 lead with 8:37 remaining. But Hampton responded with an 11-0 capped by an Amyah Reaves layup to provide Hampton with the biggest lead of the game, 26-18, with 4:18 remaining in the first half.
But Bracone scored eight points in the final four minutes of the first half, helping the Aggies outscore the Pirates 12-4 to tie the game at 30 at halftime.
Young hit all 10 of her free throws to lead the Pirates with 20 points. Hampton becomes the first CAA team to score at least 70 points against the Aggies, even though Hampton needed an extra five minutes to get there.
