Jayden GoldsonAfter surviving a double OT thriller against Maryland Eastern Shore, the Lady Eagles showed grit in a back-and-forth game, outlasting Delaware State in a close 76-71 victory.
This performance marked NCCU’s second consecutive win in conference play and extended Delaware State’s losing streak to 10 games on the season.
After a slow start in the first quarter, NCCU turned up the heat in the second. They allowed just two points in the final 2:17 and entered halftime down by a point.
“I just feel like every time we fall behind, it’s really on the defensive end when we get it back,” said sophomore guard Jada Tiggett, who finished the contest with 20 points (81.8 FG%), 11 rebounds and 1 assist. She also logged 3 steals and 4 blocks while also sinking her only attempt from 3pt range.
“Because anybody can score, you know our team, so I feel like when we play defense, we can win any game.”
Despite Delaware State’s constant full-court pressure, Head Coach Terrence Baxter said his team kept their composure.
“I was so frustrated because to me, it was easy for us to break it,” he said.
NCCU dominated the Hornets 22-0 in fast break points.
“It was easy to break how they were playing,” Baxter said. “We could get the ball over the top the whole time right to the middle, diagonal pass and we’re either going get that three, layup, or the skip to the other side and doing the same thing over and over again gets you that result.”
NCCU lost a valuable floor spacer in sophomore guard Aysia Hinton (6 pts, 4 reb, 1 stl) to foul trouble with 4:25 left in the fourth quarter. This was the first time Hinton fouled out in her career.
Despite this, Coach Baxter knew that his team could close out the game.
“We’re next man up,” Baxter said. “We’ve had seven – eight players for the last two years. Everybody knows when that one goes down, it’s coming right to you. And you better be ready.”
In addition to Tiggett’s 20-point double-double, graduate forward Morgan Callahan recorded her fourth double-double on the season (12 pts, 12 reb). Sophomore guard Kyla Bryant led all scorers with 22 points with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Freshman guard Shakiria Foster also contributed 12 points along with a career high 6 assists.
“This game meant a lot,” Tiggett said. “You know our record from before [3-14], but that don’t matter because we won two straight.”
“I feel like this was a really big game and I feel like we wanted a bit more and we got it.”
The Eagles look to continue their winning streak at home against the South Carolina State Lady Bulldogs on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 2:00 p.m.
