GREENSBORO, N.C. — Junior guard Shontai Totten led North Carolina Central University with 11 points in an 86-52 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) women's basketball road loss to North Carolina A&T State University on Thursday evening in the Corbett Sports Center.
 
With the loss, NCCU (8-21 Overall, 5-11 MEAC) finishes in a three-way tie for eighth place in the league standings with Delaware State University and Savannah State University. The Eagles will be seeded ninth based upon conference tiebreaker rules and will play the eighth-seeded DSU Hornets in the first round of the 2019 MEAC Tournament at the Norfolk Scope Arena on Tuesday, March 12 at 1 p.m.
 
If NCCU advances, the Eagles will have a chance at revenge against the regular season champions as the top-seeded Aggies will play the winner of the No. 8/9 game in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at Noon. N.C. A&T (19-10, 16-0) posted its first undefeated MEAC regular season in program history with Thursday's win over NCCU.
 
The Eagles were held to 27.4-percent accuracy from the field, matching their worst shooting performance of the season at No. 13 Iowa University.
 
Totten made a pair of 3-pointers on her way to a team-high 11 points. Senior Caira Benton was NCCU's other double-digit scorer at 10 points. Freshman Ashlyn Lockard had a solid performance for the Eagles with nine points and six rebounds while classmate Kiyana Brown had game-high totals of seven boards and three blocks.
 
NCCU made three of its first four shots in the first two minutes to jump out to a 6-3 advantage. Lockard made two consecutive layups before Benton deposited a jumper. However, the Eagles missed their final 13 shot attempts of the first quarter. The Aggies outscored NCCU 16-3 for the final eight minutes of the opening period to take a double-digit advantage, 19-9.
 
Senior Rodneysha Martin ended NCCU's drought with two straight hoops early in the second quarter and pulled the Eagles to within eight, 21-13. It was as close as the visitors would get as they once again struggled for the rest of the half. North Carolina A&T finished the quarter on a 20-6 run to extend its cushion to 21 points (41-19) at the midway point.
 
Martin did not make another basket as she settled for seven points and NCCU's top scorer and rebounder in junior Paulina Afriyie fought foul trouble through the game and settled for just two points and three rebounds before fouling out in just 13 minutes of game action.
 
The Aggies shot over 60-percent in both the third and fourth quarters to pull away to the 34-point win. N.C. A&T shot 56.6-percent for the contest. 
 
Juniors C'Coriea Foy and Cinia McCray led the victors with 17 and 16 points, respectively. They each made five assists while Foy came up with four steals.