WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – North Carolina A&T scored the game's first seven points Friday night in its Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) women's basketball contest against William & Mary and never relinquished its dominance from there in a 67-44 win over the Tribe at Kaplan Arena.

The Aggies, the first-place team in the CAA, maintained their one-game lead over Drexel by improving to 15-9 overall and 11-2 in conference play. The Aggies hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Dragons by defeating Drexel earlier this season.

Graduate Ajia James led the Aggies with 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Sophomore Paris Locke added 10 points as the Aggies played 12 players on Friday night. The Tribe dropped to 10-14 overall and 7-6 in CAA action despite getting 11 points off the bench from Monet Dance.

It took the Tribe 4 ½ minutes to score its first points. Dance ended William & Mary's drought with a 3-pointer that seemed to get the Tribe going. A Cassidy Geddes three got the Tribe to within three in the first quarter, 14-11, with 1:23 to play.

A minute later, freshman Rachel Griffin scored in the paint on a pass from senior guard Jordyn Dorsey. It was one of Dorsey's five assists as she also finished with eight points and five rebounds on 4-for-4 shooting from the free throw line. Bella Nascimento scored right before the end of the first quarter to send the Tribe into the second quarter trailing 16-13.

A&T took over from there. After Kayla Beckwith cut A&T's lead to one to open the second quarter, the Aggies put together a 9-0 run to give the Aggies a 25-15 lead. Graduate guard Maleia Bracone scored all five of her points on Friday night during that run, including a 3-pointer.

William & Mary ended the run with a 3-pointer from Nascimento. But the Aggies outscored the Tribe 10-2 the rest of the half. Another Dorsey to Griffin connection sent the Aggies into the locker room leading 35-20. The Aggies led by as many as 29 in the second half as two Darrionna Howard free throws gave the Aggies a 55-26 lead with 1:06 remaining in the third quarter.

Junior center Chaniya Clark contributed nine points and nine rebounds against the Tribe. Howard added nine points and seven rebounds. Bracone also had five assists. The Aggies return to action Sunday afternoon when they face the Delaware Blue Hens at 1 p.m. from Corbett Sports Center.