GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T women's basketball has put its games on repeat mode as the same old song keeps playing repeatedly every Friday and Sunday. Junior guard Jordyn Dorsey puts up impressive numbers. The Aggies play dogged defense for 40 minutes. And after almost two hours of real-time, the Aggies win another Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) game.
The latest rendition of the Aggies' latest hit was played Sunday afternoon at Corbett Sports Center. Dorsey scored 22 points, dished out five assists and had three steals on 6-for-12 shooting from the floor and 8-for-8 shooting from the free throw line to lead A&T to a 72-49 win over the Northeastern Huskies.
A&T, who owns the nation's second-best field goal percentage defense by holding opponents to 33.3 percent shooting, held the Huskies to 34 percent. Only No. 1 South Carolina has a better field goal percentage defense.
In winning their eighth straight game, the Aggies improved to 14-6 overall and 8-1 in CAA play. Northeastern dropped to 8-11 overall and 4-5 in league play. A&T remains in a first-place tie with Stony Brook after the Seawolves won at Monmouth on Sunday. The Aggies have won their last four games by an average margin of 23 points while holding their opponents to 46.3 points per game and 29.7 percent shooting.
"What do you think? Guess. Defense and Rebounding," said A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson when asked why his team has been so dominant over its last four games. "We are so balanced offensively. It can be anybody's moment. It can be anybody's quarter. It can be anybody's first five minutes of the quarter. It can be anybody's fourth quarter. Anybody's overtime because it is such a selfless group.
But we know the staple is we have to defend. We have to be one-and-done in those situations because that starts our transition and ability to share the ball. This time of the year is about the prep. It's about knowing the scout and knowing your opponents. They're doing a great job in that."
Robinson's squad certainly looked prepared for Huskies guard Derin Erdogan, the fourth-leading scorer in the conference. The Aggies held her to 12 points on 5-for-15 shooting. Erdogan had only two points in the first quarter, yet the Huskies shot 46.7 percent from the floor and trailed only 15-14 at the end of the period despite two 3-pointers from A&T senior guard Maleia Bracone.
However, the opening of the second period belonged to sophomore Keona Curtis, who came off the bench to score 10 points on Sunday. She scored the Aggies' first seven points of the quarter as a part of a 10-0 run that saw the run culminate with a Bracone 3-pointer to give the Aggies a 25-14 lead with 6:14 remaining in the first half. Over the next 3 1/2 minutes, however, the Huskies got to within six, 29-23, before a Dorsey 3-pointer extended A&T's lead to nine.
The lead stayed at nine, 34-25, after two Dorsey free throws with a minute remaining. But Erdogan gave Northeastern some momentum going into the half with a 3-pointer as she finished the first half with eight points.
"She is a very talented and special player," said Robinson of Erdogan. "We just wanted to throw off her rhythm by getting the ball out of her hands. When the ball is in her hands, limit her options and what she wants to do. She got some shots off early because we lost her on a few possessions.
But in the second half, we did a better job. The other thing we talk about with the other team's best players is that we have to challenge them. We have to attack them. We have to get them into foul trouble. We must see how that team is with that person on the bench."
Erdogan did not run into foul trouble, but she and her teammates encountered a tenacious A&T defense. Northeastern made two field goals over the first 6 1/2 minutes of the second half. Meanwhile, the Aggies started to catch fire as a Bracone 3-pointer followed by two free throws from senior D'Mya Tucker extended A&T's lead to 48-33. The Aggies took a 52-39 lead into the fourth quarter.
A pull-up jumper by freshman Paris Locke gave the Aggies a 57-39 lead 2 1/2 minutes into the final period. After Northeastern's Oralye Kiefer hit a 3-pointer, the Aggies put the game away with a 10-0 run, ending with a Dorsey steal and layup to put the Aggies ahead of 67-42. Deja Bristol led the Huskies with 13 points and nine rebounds.
A year ago, after the Aggies completed the first half of the conference season, they stood atop the CAA with an 8-1 record. But the Aggies went 4-5 over the second half of the CAA schedule. A&T is 8-1 again after the first nine conference games, with two tough road tests on the horizon. The Aggies are at the College of Charleston on Friday. The Cougars' Jan. 5 win over A&T was the last time A&T lost a game. The Aggies then travel to Philadelphia to face Drexel on Sunday.
"I don't let it get to my head," Bracone said about the excitement surrounding the eight-game winning streak. "We still have business to take care of. We are about to start the second part of the conference season, playing the teams we played before. It feels good, but we can't get too caught up in it."
