DURHAM, N.C. — The North Carolina Central University women's basketball team will try and string together its first three-game win streak in three seasons when the Eagles host former league rival North Carolina A&T State University on Wednesday at noon.
GAME INFO:
GAME NOTES No. 12 vs. N.C. A&T
vs. North Carolina A&T
DATE: Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 12 p.m.
LOCATION: McDougald-McLendon Arena, Durham, N.C.
WATCH:
NCCU Sports Network
FOLLOW:
Live Stats;
@NCCUAthletics
NC CENTRAL BENCH:
The Eagles picked up its second straight win on Monday with a 74-66 road triumph at Western Carolina University. It marks the first time NCCU has won two consecutive games since the Eagles ended the 2019-20 season with two straight W's. NC Central (5-7) is 3-2 at home and just needs one more win over its next three games for the programs most non-conference victories since joining the MEAC in 2011-12.
Freshman guard
Jerni Kiaku and junior guard
Kimeira Burks lead the Eagles with averages of 10.9 and 10.3 points per game, respectively, to rank eighth and 13th in the MEAC in scoring. Kiaku, who was named MEAC Rookie of the Week for a third time this season on Tuesday, also paces NCCU with 2.0 steals per game. Burks, who collected her first MEAC Player of the Week honors on Tuesday after scoring a season-high 23 points against the Catamounts, is the top three-point shooter in the MEAC. Burks leads the conference with 2.3 made 3-pointers per game and a three-point field goal percentage of 42.4 percent.
Senior guard
Kira Lowery is third on the team with 9.2 points per game and she is handing out a team-best 2.8 assists per contest. Lowery and junior
Tippy Robertson (2.8 APG) rank third and fourth in the MEAC in assists per game, respectively. Sophomore wing
Morgan Callahan follows with 8.4 points per game while chipping in 3.9 rebounds per game. Sophomore forward
Aniya Finger (8.0 PPG) is NCCU's top rebounder with 6.1 boards per contest, but she has missed five games this season. Junior
Blessing Okoh is contributing 6.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Okoh (0.9 BPG) and sophomore
Sydney Avoletta (0.8 BPG) are second and third in the MEAC in blocked shots per game.
NCCU is the highest scoring team in the MEAC at 65.1 points per game, but the Eagles are giving up league-worst 72.2 points per game to setup a lot of high-scoring affairs.
The Eagles have lost their five games against N.C. A&T, including a narrow 60-55 road setback to the Aggies last season. Lowery netted five points to pace NCCU's returning letter winners from that contest.
N.C. A&T BENCH:
The Aggies have dropped two consecutive games to slip to .500 on the season. North Carolina A&T (5-5 Overall) is just 1-4 on the road after dropping tilts at Auburn (79-63) and East Carolina (79-49) over the past week.
A trio of Aggies are averaging over 10 points per game in graduate student center Jazmin Harris (15.0 PPG), junior guard Maleia Bracone (13.6 PPG) and sophomore guard Jordyn Dorsey (10.8 PPG).
After playing three seasons at Charlotte, Harris earned Big South Conference honorable mention accolades in her first season with N.C. A&T last season. The Aggies have now switched to the Colonial Athletic Conference and Harris leads their new league with a 53.4 field goal percentage while ranking third in the conference with averages of 8.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Barcone, who has scored in double-digits in all but one game this season, leads the squad with 2.4 made 3-pointers per game and 3.4 assists per contest. Dorsey, a Big South All-Freshman Team honoree last year, is averaging 17.3 points per game in the month of December.
Junior guard D'Mya Tucker, who is averaging 9.4 points per game this season, was a perfect 8 of 8 from the field on the way to scoring a game-high 21 points in N.C. A&T's five-point win over NCCU last season. She just missed a double-double with eight rebounds. The Aggies, who rank 19th nationally this season with a +11.2 rebounding margin, did outrebound the Eagles by 15 (43-28) in that triumph to improve to 44-11 all-time against NCCU.
