WICHITA, Kansas – North Carolina A&T looked turned to their all-conference center to end a two-game slide. Aprill McRae scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Aggies to a 72-64 win over North Dakota State during the first day of the Wichita State Christmas Tournament.McRae connected on 10 of her 13 field goal attempts and all four of her free throw attempts. Dana Brown added 15 points for the Aggies who improved to 4-6 on the season. Taylor Thunstedt led the Bison with 23 points on 5 3-pointers. Marena Whittle added 20 points.
Turning point
The Aggies started the game hitting shots and ended the game hitting shots. That was a big for a team shooting 31.7 percent from the floor over its previous two games. On Friday, the Aggies opened the game by hitting four of their first five shots capped off by a Brown 3-pointer that gave the Aggies a 9-2 lead in the first four minutes.
Over time the Bison gained their footing and led by as many as nine, 34-25, with 1:53 remaining in the first half before the Aggies rallied with an 8-1 run to trail 35-33 at halftime as Kala Green scored at the buzzer. The Aggies found themselves back in the lead by the end of the third quarter, 55-51, but Taylor Thunstedt’s 3-pointer cut the lead to one in the first nine seconds of the fourth.
N.C. A&T went back to hitting shots, namely McRae. Another Thunstedt 3-pointer cut the Aggies lead to 61-59. McRae quickly answered with a layup. Thunstedt could not respond as she missed on a 3-pointer. McRae then took a pass from Christina Carter to score again to cap off a string of eight straight points as the Aggies grabbed a 65-59 lead with 2:55 remaining.
Player of the game
When Aprill McRae is making baskets the Aggies are hard to beat. Friday marked the fourth time the graduate center scored 20 or more points in her career. The Aggies are 3-1 in those games with the only loss coming to William & Mary by two points. McRae is shooting 76.1 percent (35-for-46) from the floor when she scores 20 or more points.
Stats of the game
North Dakota State outrebounded the Aggies 46-32 and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, yet the Aggies matched the Bison in second chance points, 8-8.
The paint was the Aggies paradise on Friday. They outscored the Bison 40-14 in the paint. The 40 points in the paint are a season high. N.C. A&T is 4-0 this season when they outscore their opponents in the paint.
N.C. A&T had a season-low 11 turnovers on Friday. The Aggies also dished out 14 assists. The Aggies are 4-1 when they have more assists than turnovers this season. The Aggie point guards were especially good with the basketball as freshman Rejoice Spivey had a season-high four assists and only one turnovers. Graduate guard Adriana Nazario had three assists and no turnovers and Carter had four assists and two turnovers.
Next Game
The Aggies continue play in the Wichita State Christmas Tournament by playing host Wichita State Saturday at 4 p.m., EST on ESPN3.
BOX SCORE
COURTESY NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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