BOSTON, Mass. – The calendar flipped to March on Friday; therefore, the madness started for the North Carolina A&T women's basketball team. The Aggies are in the hunt for a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) regular-season title. So they know with every game played, the title is on the line, including their showdown with the first-place Stony Brook Seawolves on Sunday.
But before the Aggies could get to New York, they had to keep the madness from taking them over in Boston against a determined, short-handed Northeastern Huskies team. A blistering third quarter ensured that did not happen as the Aggies claimed a 69-55 win at Cabot Center. A&T improved to 18-8 overall and 12-3 in conference play.
The Aggies are one game behind Stony Brook, who escaped with a 60-58 win at Drexel on Friday. Sunday will be the first and only meeting between the two teams this season. Northeastern played with six players on Friday because of injury. The Huskies are 8-16 overall and 4-11 in league play.
"This was a big win for us as far as this weekend goes," said A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson, who is now two wins away from his sixth 20-win season in 12 years as the head man at A&T. "We did everything we could not to look past this gritty Northeastern team that shot the ball very well tonight from the 3-point line."
The Huskies' grit allowed them to take an 18-8 lead to start the game. However, the Aggies scored the final six points of the first quarter, capped by a Talia Davis 3-pointer to head into the second quarter trailing 18-16. A&T tied the game 40 seconds into the second quarter on two Paris Locke free throws.
From there, the two teams exchanged the lead six times until Derin Erdogan tied the game at 29 as she slipped to the basket and took a pass from Maddie Vizza to score on a layup with a minute remaining in the first half. Forty seconds later, Dorsey drove to the basket but nearly lost the basketball. A&T sophomore center Chaniya Clark gathered the loose ball and found an open Dorsey in the corner for a 3-pointer before the half to send the Aggies into the locker room leading 32-29.
The near turnover turned into a momentum-changing play for the Aggies. A&T scored the first 16 points of the third quarter. The run started with a 3-pointer from the 6-foot-4 Clark and ended with her, as A&T captured a 48-29 lead with five minutes to play in the third. A&T led by as many as 22 in the third and went into the fourth quarter leading 56-36 after a Davis three.
Northeastern scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter, but the Aggies regained control on a layup from Bracone and back-to-back layups from senior D'Mya Tucker to take a 62-43 lead with 4:23 remaining in the game. The Aggies have three remaining games in the regular season, with Stony Brook serving as the Aggies' final road game.
Continued winning will yield not only a regular-season championship but also a double-bye in the CAA tournament, March 13-17, at Washington, D.C.'s Entertainment & Sports Arena. A&T closes the season with two home games against Drexel and Hofstra.
"We know what's at stake every game down this stretch and will need the same effort we had tonight the rest of the way," said Robinson.
Four Aggies scored in double figures, led by Clark's 19-point, 12-rebound double-double, which included her going 8-for-15 from the floor and 3-for-6 from 3-point range. It marked Clarke's fifth double-double of the season and the seventh of her career. Davis came off the bench to score 11 points and grab seven rebounds on 3-for-6 shooting from 3-point range.
Dorsey added 12 points, three assists and three steals. Tucker had 11 points and five rebounds on 5-for-10 shooting. Erdogan led the Huskies with 15 points.
