Courtesy of North Carolina A&T State Athletic Communications
Box Score
ORANGEBURG, S.C. – The
North Carolina A&T State women's basketball won its fourth straight game by beating South Carolina State for the second time in as many days at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center. A day after placing four players in double-figures, five Aggies scored in double figures against the Bulldogs in a 97-54 win.
The Aggies improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). SCSU dropped to 1-8 overall and 0-2 in the MEAC.
"In our second game, I thought our offensive cohesiveness and comfort in their gym was there," head coach Tarrell Robinson said. "We were able to put together a really good performance scoring 97 points. We did it by sharing the ball and finishing the game with 28 assists and only 10 turnovers."
Senior forward Deja Winters led the Aggies with 21 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the 3-point range. Freshman guard D'Mya Tucker scored 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting, and graduate student Chanin Scott finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, a game-high six steals and five assists. Freshman guard Sean
Kelly Darks posted 12 points, nine assists and five rebounds on 5-for-11 shooting. The other Aggie in double figures was junior guard Jasmen Walton with 10 points.
"Deja Winters was back to her sharp-shooting self," Robinson said. "D'Mya Tucker has been an example of consistent production every game, and Sean Kelly Darks showed that she can run an offense with nine assists and only one turnover. Chanin Scott had a well-balanced game and filled the stat sheet with her performance. In games like this, there are so many signs of improvement in only our fifth game of the season."
The Aggies shot 46.8 (37-for-79) percent from the floor. They were 9-for-15 from the floor in the first quarter and 11-for-20 from the floor in the third. N.C. A&T also shot 46.2 (12-for-26) percent from the 3-point range while holding the Bulldogs to 37 percent shooting.
SCSU turned the ball over 29 times, and the Aggies recorded 15 steals.
N.C. A&T found themselves in a close game early. A 3-pointer from SCSU's Nadia Reese tied the game at 16 with 71 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Tucker gave the Aggies the lead for good, however, when she netted a 3-pointer to give the Aggies a 19-16 lead at the end of the first.
An 11-0 spurt to open the second quarter gave the Aggies a 30-16 lead with 7:28 remaining in the first half. The Aggies hit three 3-pointers during the run as Winters swished two and Darks had the other.
SCSU dwindled the Aggies lead to under double-figures as a Trinity Klock 3-pointer made it a 37-28 game with 2:11 remaining in the half. But the Aggies got 3-pointers from Darks and Winters to take a 43-28 halftime lead.
N.C. A&T's offense remained stellar going into the second half. The Aggies posted 29 third-quarter points with Winters, Darks and Scott each scoring six points. A tip-in by SCSU's Shania Wright cut the Aggies lead to 54-36 with 6:43 remaining in the third.
Winters responded with a 3-pointer, Scott followed a Winters miss and freshman Asjah Inniss hit a jumper to put the Aggies ahead 61-36. Two free throws by Jada Smith gave the Aggies a 72-41 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Klock posted 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Bulldogs.