BOSTON – North Carolina A&T women's basketball returned to its winning ways in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) on Friday night with a 73-55 win over the Northeastern Huskies at Matthews Arena.
The Aggies remain in first place as they improved to 14-9 overall and 10-2 in the CAA behind 17 points and 12 rebounds from junior center Chaniya Clark. Senior guard Jordyn Dorsey added 12 points, six assists and four rebounds. A&T is one game ahead of second-place Drexel.
Northeastern dropped to 1-20 overall and 0-12 in conference play despite 20 points and four assists on 6-for-9 shooting from 3-point range from Yirsy Quéliz and 22 points and three assists from Natalie Larrañaga on 5-for-9 shooting from three.
A Quéliz jumper gave the Huskies a 10-8 lead six minutes into the game. Freshman post Rachel Griffin scored A&T's next four points before Natalie Larranaga's three helped the Huskies regain the lead at 13-12. But Dorsey responded with the following four points to give A&T a 16-13 lead going into the second quarter.
In addition to giving the Aggies the lead going into the second quarter, Dorsey's spurt put them in front for the remainder of the contest even though the Huskies would still have their moments.
Those moments did not come in the second quarter as A&T dominated. The Aggies opened the period with a 15-1 run that included nine points from Clark and culminated with a 3-pointer from Dorsey to give the Aggies a 31-14 lead with 4:10 remaining in the first half.
Three-and-half minutes later, Dorsey's layup gave the Aggies a 39-22 lead before Larrañaga hit a jump shot to send Huskies into the locker room trailing 39-24.
Four minutes into the second half, the Aggies increased their lead to 20, 51-31, on two Ajia James free throws. But the Huskies outscored A&T 15-5 over the final six minutes of the third quarter, including Quéliz's 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer to send Northeastern into the fourth quarter trailing 56-46.
Another Quéliz three brought the Huskies to within nine at 58-49 with 7:46 to play. Sophomore wing Paris Locke moved A&T's lead back to double figures on a layup off a feed from Dorsey. An Abigail Jegede jumper gave the Huskies another response before an 11-2 A&T run put the game away.
Graduate guard Maleia Bracone had five points during the run, and the spurt ended on a Bracone pass to James for a layup to give the Aggies a 71-53 lead with 2 ½ minutes to play.
Two other Aggies scored in double figures, including James's 12 points, four rebounds and four steals. Bracone added 10 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals. Locked contributed with nine points and seven rebounds.
A&T will get a break from competition before returning to the road to face the William & Mary Tribe on Friday, February 21 at 7 p.m. at Kaplan Arena.
