ORANGEBURG, SC – South Carolina State's Rhein Beamon led all scorers with 13 points and teammate Taylor Brown contributed 12 and a game-high nine rebounds but it was not enough as visiting North Carolina A&T handed the Lady Bulldogs a 58-44 setback Saturday.

Orangeburg's Jaquanna Murray added seven points for SC State in the contest, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener for both teams. The Lady Bulldogs fell to 7-8 overall and 0-1 in the league.

NC A&T used a balanced scoring attack and a big advantage on the boards to earn the win and improve to 4-10 on the season and 1-0 in MEAC play.

Rayven Peeples paced the Lady Aggies with 10 points and was the only NC A&T player to reach double digits. Alexus Lessears added nine points, Cinia McCray eight and Shantell Bostick seven in the win. Charnise Tyler added eight rebounds and Lessears and Le'on Hill six each for the visitors who owned a huge 43-25 advantage on the boards.

The Lady Aggies, one of the tallest teams SC State has faced all season, trailed 17-13 after the first period, but put together back-to-back 20-point quarters to take control of the game. NC A&T outscored the Lady Bulldogs 20-10 in the second period to take a 33-27 lead to the locker room.

The visitors scored 13 of the first 14 points of the quarter in building a 26-18 advantage when Peeples got inside for a basket with 3:35 on the clock. The lead was 10, 30-20, with 3:10 left in the half before SC State closed the period on a 7-3 run to pull to within six at the break.'

Murray got the first basket of the third period to pull SC State to within 33-29, the closet the host had been since the early going before a 13-7 spree by NC A&T pushed the visitors' lead to ten, 46-36, with 2:46 on the third-period clock. The Lady Aggies, behind a 20-11 quarter, led 53-38 after three.

The Lady Bulldogs won a low-scoring fourth quarter 6-5.

SC State managed just 32.7 percent shooting (17-52) from the field, including only 25 percent (3-12) in the second period. Meanwhile, the Lady Aggies finished with 46.0 percent accuracy (23-50) from the field, including a blistering 70 percent (7-10) in the second, when the seized control of the contest. Neither team fared well from beyond the arc, with the host Lady Bulldogs connecting on just 2-16 (12.5 pct.) from long range, with NC A&T making just 3-11 (27.3 pct.).

The Lady Bulldogs will resume their schedule Saturday when they travel to Baltimore to meet Morgan State in the first game of a league doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. The team will remain in the area to take on Coppin State Monday in another conference doubleheader with a 5:30 p.m. starting time.