TOWSON, Md. – North Carolina A&T lost to Towson Friday night 68-57 at the SECU Arena, home of the 2023 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Women's Basketball Championship Tournament, to fall into a four-way tie for third place in the women's basketball standings.
The Aggies fall to 16-10 overall and 10-5 in the CAA. They trail No. 1 Drexel by 1 ½ games and No. 2 Stony Brook by a game. The Tigers helped themselves on Friday by moving into a third-place with A&T, improving to 16-10 overall and 10-5 in league play. A&T will play its home finale on Sunday at Corbett Sports Center against UNC Wilmington at 2 p.m. before going on the road for its final two regular-season games against Delaware and Drexel.
On Friday, sophomore guard Jordyn Dorsey led A&T with 19 points. She connected on all three of her 3-point attempts and shot 7-for-13 from the floor, 2-for-2 from the line and dished out five assists. Maleia Bracone and Jazmin Harris had 11 points apiece, with Harris adding seven rebounds and four blocked shots.
A&T had an uphill climb as the game headed toward the fourth quarter. When Quinzia Fulmore followed her miss with a tip-in, Towson took its largest lead of the game at 48-32 with 2:05 remaining in the third quarter. A Bracone 3-pointer and a Laila Acox layup got the Aggies to within 11 before Skye Williams' free throw gave the Tigers a 49-37 lead heading into the fourth.
Three-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Dorsey in the fourth helped the Aggies close the deficit to 53-45 with 7 ½ minutes to play. Thirty seconds later, Dorsey drove to the basket to score again, cutting Towson's lead to six. After a Kylie Kornegay-Lucas free throw pushed Towson's lead to seven, Harris responded with a short jumper in the lane to get the Aggies to within 54-49 with 5:14 remaining.
Two free throws from Towson's Alexia Nelson were met with a layup by D'Mya Tucker to keep A&T's deficit at five before Patricia Anumgba splashed a three for the Tigers to push the lead to eight. Nyah Willis had the response with a 3-point play to get the Aggies to within five, 59-54, with 2:42 remaining. Tucker then made one of two free throws to get Towson's lead down to four with 2:02 remaining. It was the closest the Aggies had been since 19-15 19 seconds into the second quarter.
But the Aggies could get no closer. Fulmore took a pass from Williams to put Towson up six with 90 seconds to play. Dorsey dropped a dime to Harris for a layup to answer the score, but Anissa Rivera splashed a big three with 58 seconds remaining to give Towson a 64-57 advantage. Towson sealed the game with free throws from there.
Fulmore led the Tigers with 16 points and seven rebounds.
A&T opened the game on a 6-0 run and maintained a lead throughout the first quarter until two Kornegay-Lucas free throws tied the game at 14. After Harris made a free throw, the Tigers took the lead for good on a Nelson 3-pointer as Towson took a 17-15 lead into the second quarter.
