DURHAM, N.C. – Senior
Tisha Dixon registered a double-double in her final home game and sophomore
Kierona Morton had a career night as the North Carolina Central University women's basketball team held off Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rival Savannah State, 65-61, inside McDougald-McLendon Arena Monday evening.
A pair of made free throws by freshman
Dominique Adams with 5.6 seconds left in regulation sealed the four-point win for the Lady Eagles.
NCCU (5-21 Overall, 3-12 MEAC) snapped a nine-game losing streak in league play and the victory secured the Lady Eagles the 12th seed in the 2016 MEAC Tournament. NCCU will play the fifth seed (TBD) in the opening round of the championship on Monday, March 7 at 1:30 p.m.
Dixon led the Lady Eagles with game-high totals of 19 points and 11 rebounds. Her 19 points matched her career-high previously set in NCCU's last win at Johnson & Wales on Feb. 8. Dixon, who has five double-doubles on the season and 12 in her career, has logged double-doubles in three of her last four games.
Morton recorded 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for the victors. She set new career-highs with her 10 points and four swats.
A total of four Lady Eagles reached double digits in the scoring column with Adams and junior
Morgan Jones both pouring in 10 points. Freshman
Chantal Thomas orchestrated NCCU's offense by dishing out a career-high seven assists.
The two teams played within six points of each other throughout the contest with SSU's largest advantage coming in the second quarter at 29-23 and NCCU's biggest lead of six points coming twice in the fourth quarter. The game featured seven ties and 12 lead changes.
Savannah State led for majority of the first half but a freshman
Deja McCain made layup on an inside pass from Jones at the halftime buzzed deadlocked the score at 31-all.
After a few lead changes in the third quarter, Dixon made a last-minute layup to put the Lady Eagles ahead for good. Thomas then drew a foul call with one second left in the period and made both free throws to give NCCU a 49-46 lead heading into the final frame.
The Lady Tigers got within one possession of the Maroon and Gray five different occasions in the fourth quarter but NCCU scored the game's next points each time to stay in front. Jones scored half of her 10 points in the last 10 minutes and two late layups by Morton and Dixon on a pair of feeds from Thomas increased NCCU's lead to four at 61-57 and 63-59, correspondingly. After an uncontested layup by Savannah State pulled the visitors to within two again with 10 seconds left, the Lady Tigers were forced to foul and Adams drilled both free throws with 5.6 ticks on the clock to end SSU's comeback chances.
NCCU finished with a 43-33 rebounding advantage behind 11 boards by Dixon and eight seized by Morton. The Lady Eagles also committed a season-low 12 turnovers.
Juniors Jeremica Edwards and Rhianna Warren led the Lady Tigers with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Classmate Tiyonda Davis just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
NCCU finishes the regular season at MEAC archrival North Carolina A&T State University on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. before playing in the MEAC Tournament on Monday.
