Feb. 7, 2011

Box Score

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - Tracy King scored a game-high 24 points, including five in overtime, to spoil the University of Maryland Eastern Shore's second-half comeback and lead North Carolina A&T to an 80-68 win at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center Monday.

UMES (8-15, 5-5 MEAC) rallied from down, 53-42, with 9:52 remaining in the second half to force an extra session but N.C. A&T (10-11, 6-4) outscored the Lady Hawks, 14-2, in the final five minutes for the victory. The win for N.C. A&T snapped a two-game losing streak while the loss for UMES is its first at home in conference play, dropping it to 5-1.

King was 7-for-15 from the floor and 9-of-11 from the free-throw line with eight rebounds for N.C. A&T. Jaleesa Sams recorded a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Casey Morton (Mardela Springs, Md.) led UMES with 19 points, a game-high five steals and added four steals.

Chelsea Sanders (Rochester, N.Y.) scored 13 points on 5-for-12 shooting and was the only other player for the Lady Hawks in double figures. The Lady Aggies' Nikia Gorham (15 points) and Reisha Bullock (13) also each finished in double digits.

Adobi Agbasi (Columbus, Ga.) started the UMES comeback with a layup from Morton at the 9:02 mark of the second period to make it 53-44. LaKendra Wilkerson (Greensboro, N.C.) then converted another layup less than a minute later to cut the deficit to seven. Morton later capped a 7-4 run with a 3-pointer to make it a 57-53 with six minutes to play. Gorham pushed the lead to 61-55 with 1-of-2 free throws before Sha-Kiyla Finney (Portsmouth, Va.) drained a trey to make it 61-58 with 4:28 remaining in the second half. Morton tallied 3-of-4 from the line in 39 seconds to pull the Lady Hawks even at 62-62 with 2:40 left.

King scored four straight for N.C. A&T on free throws and a layup but UMES got layups from Agbasi and Finney to knot the score in the final minute.

Courtney Braxton (Virginia Beach, Va.) hit a jumper with 3:19 left in overtime to give UMES its first lead since 18:45 of second half at 68-67. But that was the only hoop the Lady Hawks got in the period as N.C. A&T went 10-of-14 from the line in the in overtime to ice the game.

The Lady Aggies shot 60 percent in the first half (15-for-25) to negate 12 turnovers and hold a 34-33 halftime advantage. In all, N.C. A&T committed 27 miscues, giving UMES 20 points for the game. The Aggies also held a 48-36 edge in points in the paint on the night.

N.C. A&T shot 50.9 percent (29-for-57) for the game and limited UMES to 39.4 percent (26-of-66).

UMES travels to play Florida A&M Saturday at 4 p.m.