DURHAM, N.C. – Senior guard Kira Lowery converted on a contested game-winning, five-footer with 5.3 seconds left in regulation to lift the North Carolina Central University women's basketball team to a dramatic 72-70 home victory over Appalachian State University on Thursday evening inside McDougald-McLendon Arena.
 
Lowery drove the right wing before pulling up to and successfully banking in her clutch shot as the Eagles improved to 4-7 on the season.
 
The Mountaineers were able to get off a potential game-winning, 3-pointer in the right corner at the buzzer, but that shot clanked off the iron.
 
Lowery was one of four double-digit scorers for the Eagles with 13 points. Freshman Jerni Kiaku netted a game-high 20 points, making eight of her 15 field goal attempts and all three of her free throws. Junior Taylor Williams provided a season-high 14 points, including five critical points in the fourth quarter. Junior Tippy Robertson chipped in 10 points to go along with her game-high totals of six assists and three steals.
 
The Eagles flew out to a 17-2 advantage with four different players drilling 3-pointers during that opening surge. Robertson connected on her second trifecta -- NCCU's fifth 3-pointer of the period -- in the final minute to keep the hosts ahead 23-11 after 10 minutes of play.
 
App State outscored the Eagles 21-10 in the second quarter to rally back and lead a couple times late in the half. Kiaku accounted for seven off NCCU's 11 points in the period before a pull-up jumper by Williams with 31 seconds left help the Eagles regain the lead, 33-32, at halftime.
 
Kiaku paced the maroon and gray at the midway point with nine points. App State freshman Alexis Black led all players into the locker room with 11 points. Black was held to just two points in the second half.
 
A close third quarter featured four of the games six lead changes. NCCU scored the final five points of the period to take a 53-50 edge into the fourth quarter.
 
The Eagles never trailed in the final stanza and led by as many as seven points on three occasions in the period before App State rallied late to tie the game twice in the final minute. However, Lowery had the answer each time.
 
The Mountaineers entered the game ranked as one of the top three-point reliant teams in NCAA Division I with an average of 28.5 three-point attempts per game (ranked 11th nationally). Despite a cold night from behind the arc in which App State only made 2 of its 19 attempts from long range (10.5%), a made trey by junior Faith Alston knotted the score with 44 seconds left. Lowery poured in a couple of free throws to put NCCU back ahead, but senior Janay Sanders made a layup with 14 seconds left to knot the score for a seventh and final time. Lowery then supplied her game-winner nine seconds later. Instead of going for a tying two-pointer after advancing the ball with a time out, App State went back to three-point distance and watched its final attempt carom around the front iron and off its mark.
 
NCCU fought foul trouble throughout the night, but the Mountaineers only made 16 of their 34 free throw attempts (47.1%). The Eagles also had a tough rebounding night in which App State finished with a 49-28 advantage on the glass. However, NCCU shot 53.8-percent from three-point distance and forced the visitors into 25 turnovers while only committing 17 mistakes to help improve to 3-2 at home.
 
Sophomore Sydney Avoletta had a team-high seven rebounds for the Eagles.
 
App State (3-6) had three double-figure scorers, including 18 points by Sanders, 14 points by Alston and 13 points by Black. Alston, who completed a double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds, was a menace all night by drawing 14 fouls and dishing out three assists.
 
NC Central will next play at Western Carolina University on Monday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.
 
For more information on NCCU Athletics, visit NCCUEaglePride.com, or download the NCCU Eagles Athletics app.