North Carolina A&T’s Brittany Taylor-James scored a game-high 25 points, while Amber Bland added 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and Ta’Wuana Cook came off the bench to score 11 points for the Lady Aggies, who earned an 82-64 road victory over Morgan State in a MEAC game at Hill Field House on Saturday afternoon.

The victory was North Carolina A&T’s fourth straight and 10th in the last 12 meetings over Morgan State in a game which was for sole position of first-place in the league standings.

In the end the visiting Lady Aggies were just too much for Morgan State. But despite the loss the Lady Bears proved that they could hang and play with clearly the best team in the league.

Morgan State pulled within four points (68-64) of North Carolina A&T with 3:38 left in the contest after two free throws by Moneshia Davis, but would get no closer, as it witnessed the defending MEAC regular season champion Lady Aggies close out the game on a 14-0 spurt.

The Lady Bears (9-4, 1-1 MEAC) were led by Erin Hawkins, who tallied a career-high 21 points, including a game- and career-high five three-pointers. Corin Adams added 17 points in a losing effort.

Morgan State which entered the game on top of the league standings in a five-way tie with N.C. A&T, Florida A&M, Delaware State and Hampton, would not go away, surviving several of North Carolina A&T’s blows early on. The Lady Aggies took their largest lead of the first half on a jumper by Reisha Bullock with 7:35 left to give the guests a 27-15 advantage.

The Lady Bears then countered with three straight three-pointers, two by Hawkins and another by Adams to pull within 31-26 with 3:37 remaining in the opening half. But the Lady Aggies would go on an 8-3 run to take a 39-29 lead at the half.

N.C. A&T (8-5, 2-0 MEAC) pushed its cushion to 14 points (53-39), following two free throws by Nakia DeBlanc just six minutes into the second half. However, the Lady Bears began to cut into the deficit and used an 18-6 run to pull within 57-59 after three straight free throws by newcomer Kristina Rosario with 8:11 left, but that’s as close as Morgan would get.

With the addition of Rosario, she showed she can be another inside presence for Morgan State. The junior transfer from Galloway, N.J., scored nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and added three rebounds as a reserve in her Morgan State debut.

The Lady Aggies, who became the first opponent this season to shot 50 percent (31-of-62) from the floor on Morgan State, also held a 45-38 rebounding advantage over Morgan State. The Lady Bears shot 23-of-69 from the field for 33 percent, including a woeful 8-of-35 (22 percent) from three-point range.    

Morgan State will return to action on Monday, Jan. 12, when they take on the Spartans of Norfolk State. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.