GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T distributed the scoring load about as evenly as it could be, but with the game on the line, the Aggies turned to their veteran guard, and she delivered.
Graduate D'Mya Tucker, who has been with the A&T women's basketball program since 2020, scored the Aggies' final seven points of the game to lead her team to a 55-46 win over the UNCW Seahawks Thursday night at Corbett Sports Center. The Aggies improved to 12-16 overall and 7-10 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) action.
Kylah Silver led the Seahawks with 15 points on 18 field goal attempts as UNCW dropped to 6-22 overall and 2-15 in league play. Tucker led a balanced A&T attack, with six Aggies scoring at least five points, as she ended the night with 12 points. Junior forward Darrionna Howard returned to the Aggies lineup after missing three games with an injury and scored 10 points off the bench.
"I was begging her. Come on, DT, let's go make plays. We need you," said A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson about his plea to his experienced guard to play well down the stretch. "She knows what she is capable of. It's what we expect. It's what we expect consistently moving forward. It was a great bounce-back game for her. I hope her confidence is up right now because we definitely need her on Saturday, and as we get ready for the conference tournament."
Tucker played in her 121st game as an Aggie on Thursday. It was her 53rd game played at Corbett in an A&T uniform. Her 54th game in Corbett against the 2025-26 regular-season CAA champion College of Charleston Cougars on Saturday at 2 p.m. will be her last. If Thursday is any indication, she and another Aggie who has worn the uniform for an extended period, Chaniya Clark, will have a tremendous sendoff.
After trailing 19-10 at the end of the first quarter, the Aggies went into the fourth with a 42-37 advantage. They increased their lead to 44-38 2 ½ minutes into the final period when Clark followed her miss with a tip-in. Three minutes later, Icyss Storm got the Seahawks to within three, 48-46, on a 3-pointer. Tucker took it from there.
Her scoring outburst started with a free throw. She followed that with a pull-up jumper with the shot clock running down to give the Aggies a 51-46 lead with 1:12 to play. After a missed Silver 3-pointer gave the Aggies possession again, Tucker drove to the basket to draw a shooting foul. She netted both free throws to extend A&T's lead to seven. Then, on an out-of-bounds play underneath UNCW's basket, junior Paris Locke went from A&T's point forward to quarterback, throwing a precise outlet pass that led Tucker straight to the rim for an easy layup and a commanding 55-46 lead with 19 seconds remaining on the clock.
"Tonight was very big for me," said Tucker. "We had a slow start, but I felt like I had a slower start. I'm trying to stay focused on what we are actually running and taking the opportunities I need to take. I was glad for it actually to work out for us."
Clark added nine points and 10 rebounds for A&T and is 10 rebounds shy of becoming only the second player in program history with 1,000 points and 800 rebounds in a career, joining North Carolina A&T Sports Hall of Famer Malveata Johnson. In addition to Tucker and Clark, the Aggies will also honor Charleston Southern transfer Shimei Muhammad before Saturday's game as a part of the Senior Day festivities.
The Aggies are locked into the No. 9 seed for the 2026 Credit 1 CAA Women's Championship Basketball Tournament at CareFirst Arena in Washington, DC, March 11-15. That means the Aggies will play at noon on Thursday, March 12, against either Elon, Towson, or William & Mary. The 8-9 game puts the Aggies in the same bracket as top-seeded Charleston, their opponent on Saturday at Corbett.
"This is an exciting time for me," said Tucker. "We have a chance to win our conference and get to NCAAs. I'm honestly just happy to have this opportunity to spend time with my teammates, plus this coaching staff I've known for so long. I want to give everything I can to this university, so I'm focused, I'm locked in, and ready to work."
