WILMINGTON, N.C. – With three consecutive home games approaching for the North Carolina A&T, the Aggies secured a key road win on Sunday, defeating the UNC Wilmington Seahawks 66-56 at Trask Coliseum.
The Aggies remain tied atop the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) standings at 9-2, and they improved to 15-7 overall. Meanwhile, the Aggies handed UNCW (4-17, 1-9 CAA) its fourth straight loss. A&T remains in a tie with Drexel because the Dragons hit a game-winning shot with 27 seconds remaining to beat Stony Brook, the No. 3 team in the conference, 66-65.
"I really challenged our ladies today to value each and every possession today," said A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson. "I think they did that to secure a quality CAA road victory for us."
D'Mya Tucker led the A&T with 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting with four rebounds. Three Aggies scored 11 points, including Chaniya Clark, Maleia Bracone and Jazmin Harris. Clark shot 4-for-6, Harris was 5-for-10 and grabbed six rebounds. Bracone netted three 3-pointers. Nyah Willis added 10 points off the bench.
Tucker has scored in double figures in nine straight games, and Jordyn Dorsey grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds.
A Bracone steal and a layup to end the third quarter gave the Aggies a 47-42 lead going into the fourth. Carrie Gross made a 3-pointer 16 seconds into the fourth to cut A&T's lead to 47-45, but the Aggies started to pull away from there. A&T went on a 7-0 run to take a 54-45 lead with 7:13 to play. Tucker had her fingerprints all over the run. She scored six points, including a 3-point play, and had a steal and offensive rebound during the spurt.
Gross broke up the run with a jump shot, but Bracone splashed back-to-back threes, and Clark scored on a layup to give the Aggies a 62-47 lead with five minutes to play. UNCW never got the lead under double figures again.
UNCW's Michan Hoggatt opened the game by making a jump shot. But A&T scored the next 11 points over the next six minutes to take an 11-2 lead. That lead grew to 15-4 before the Seahawks outscored the Aggies 9-2 to close out the first and enter the second trailing 17-13.
The Seahawks kept their hot shooting going in the second by hitting three consecutive 3-pointers, outscoring the Aggies 11-3 the first 4 ½ minutes, to take a 24-19 lead over A&T. The Aggies responded with an 8-0 run fueled by six points from Harris to grab a 27-24 lead. After a UNCW free throw, Willis converted a 3-point play to put the Aggies up five, 30-25, with 2:24 remaining in the first half.
UNCW scored the next five points on a Gross three and jumper to tie the game at 30 before Tucker converted a layup into an and-one with 23 seconds left to give A&T a 33-30 lead at the half. Harris scored 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the first half. Willis added eight points.
Gross led the Seahawks with a game-high 29 points on 10-for-18 shooting, including 4-for-8 from 3-point range. A&T begins its three-game homestand with a contest against Hampton Thursday night at 6. William & Mary comes to the east side of Greensboro on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tip. It concludes with a Feb. 19 tilt against Monmouth at 2 p.m.
The Aggies are 4-1 at home in CAA play. In addition to its tie for first place with Drexel, the Aggies hold a 1 ½ game lead over Towson and Stony Brook.
