North Carolina A&T survived a career-high 36 points from High Point's Charlena Martin and got a Kira Tillman layup with one second left to claim a 73-72 win over the visiting Panthers Saturday afternoon in the Corbett Center.

The Panthers (2-1) suffered their first loss of the season, while the Lady Aggies (1-2) claimed their first win after setbacks this week to Charlotte and Pittsburgh.

HPU got a great game off the bench from freshman Amber Manuel, who had 11 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks. Katie O'Dell added eight points and 10 rebounds for the Panthers.

Tia Richardson led the Lady Aggies with a double-double, scoring 14 points and adding 11 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks. A&T also placed LaKeisha Williams (13 points, four steals) and Yanumbe Sherman (12 points) in double- figures.

Following a first half which featured five lead changes, A&T held a 34-29 halftime advantage. The Lady Aggies led by as many as 14 points in the second half (60-46 with 9:04 to play) before the Panthers rattled off a 13-2 run to pull within 62-59 on a jumper by Martin with 4:25 left.

High Point came all the way back when Renee Porter fouled Martin on a three-point attempt to send her to the line with 1:00 to play. Martin converted all three foul shots, and then after Katie Ralls came up with a huge steal for the Panthers, Martin added a layup with 53 seconds remaining to tie the game at 68-68.

Williams put the Lady Aggies back in front when she grabbed an offensive rebound and scored with 44 seconds to go for a 70-68 advantage. Martin tied the game again (70-70) with a pair of free throws with 38 seconds left. Five seconds later, Martin fouled Williams, who hit one of two foul shots to give A&T a 71-70 edge. 

A foul by Tillman led to two more Martin free throws with 29 seconds remaining which gave the Panthers a 72-71 lead. A&T then called two timeouts, once to get the ball beyond halfcourt and again because its offense broke down in the halfcourt set.

With six seconds to play, A&T center Malea Gibson screened O'Dell to free Tillman for a game-winning floating jump shot with one second remaining to give A&T a 73-72 win.

The teams combined for a whopping 51 turnovers (HPU 34, North Carolina A&T 27).

The game opened a seven-game road swing for the Panthers, who visit Western Carolina Wednesday (5:00 pm). The Lady Aggies return to action on Monday night at 7 p.m. when they travel to Charleston, S.C., to face Charleston Southern.