Winters leads Aggies past Phoenix

A&T: 80
Elon: 64

North Carolina A&T senior forward Deja Winters recorded a game-high 25 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the floor to help lead the Aggies women’s basketball team to an 80-64 win over Elon for their first win of the season.

The Aggies (1-1) snapped a two-game losing streak to the Phoenix (4-2).

“This is a huge win in a couple of aspects,” N.C. A&T coach Tarrell Robinson said. “We always want to do well against our in-state rivals. We had a major letdown on Monday. Elon played (UNC Greensboro) and beat them handily. Obviously, we were able to come back and beat Elon. The thing that we were talking about was putting together two good halves. We did a really good job in the first half against UNCG and not in the second half. Today, we played at a consistent level.”

Winters was nearly automatic from beyond the arc, shooting 7-for-10 from 3-point range. Freshman guard D’mya Tucker recorded her second consecutive double-figure scoring game with 12 points. Senior forward Jayla Jones-Pack recorded eight points on 3-for-4 shooting from the floor and added eight rebounds.

Graduate student guard Chanin Scott recorded a game-high nine rebounds and added seven points with three assists and two steals.

The Phoenix’s Ariana Nance tied the game for the third time as she followed her miss to make it a 52-52 game with 9:04 remaining.

N.C. A&T, who led the majority of the game against UNCG, led Sunday’s game for more than 28 minutes. But they refused to let Sunday’s game slip away. The Aggies scored the next 10 points. D’Mya Tucker scored eight of her 12 points during the run, to put the Aggies ahead 62-62 with 6:02 remaining in the game.

Two minutes later, the Phoenix did get within seven, 63-56, thanks to Brie Perpignan using dribble penetration to get into the lane to score on a layup.

But Winters, who tortured the Phoenix from 3-point range all afternoon, netted another three after taking Tucker’s pass to put the Aggies ahead by double figures again. Elon got the Aggies’ lead under 10 for the final time on a Kayla Liles jumper to make it a 67-59 game with 3:26 remaining.

But a free throw from Sean Kelly Darks and a layup from Tucker put the Aggies ahead 70-59 with 1:51 to play. The Phoenix never threatened again.

The Phoenix was led by Evonna McGill and Perpignan, who had 13 points apiece.

“I’m very proud of my young ladies,” said Robinson. “Elon is an excellent basketball team, and these ladies stepped up to the challenge today. I’m a happy coach today.”

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