CHARLOTTE -- The hole was just too deep.

N.C. Central fought gamely after a huge early deficit but never could catch J.C. Smith in the regular-season finale for both teams in CIAA women’s basketball Saturday at Brayboy Gym.

Lauren Goss led the way with 27 points, and Joi Surratt added 24 with 12 rebounds as Smith escaped with an 80-66 victory, ending a seven-game NCCU winning streak in the series.

NCCU, which ended the regular season on a three-game losing streak, had won the teams’ first meeting of the season 89-87 in double overtime on Jan. 29 at McLendon-McDougald Gym.

"Well, that’s a good thing for us," JCSU coach Vanessa Taylor said of the end of the streak. "We’re just real excited to win our final game at home. We shot a lot better than we did in the first game against Central, and Joi got a lot of points for us in the first half and Lauren in the second."

Both teams will begin CIAA Tournament play Monday at Raleigh’s RBC Center. JCSU (16-10, 9-7 CIAA, 4-6 CIAA West) will have the West’s No. 4 seed in the first round of the tournament, while NCCU (8-18, 6-10, 3-7) will have the No. 5 seed.

Tiona Beatty led NCCU with 31 points, leaving her with 445 points and in fifth place on the NCCU single-season scoring chart since the 1986-87 season. Freshman Leighla Holder added a season-high 13 points for the Eagles.

The hosts outshot the Eagles 60.4 percent to 30.0 percent and outrebounded them 40-35.

"Yes, we dug ourselves a big hole," NCCU coach Joli Robinson said. "I was happy we came back the way we did, but we’ve just got to go out and play 40 minutes instead of in spurts. We know what we can do. We just have to do it consistently."

JCSU led 38-22 at halftime after scoring the first 11 points and once holding a 32-10 lead.

Surratt had 17 points at the break for JCSU, which outshot NCCU 57.1 percent to 20.0 percent in the period.

The Eagles went on a run to start the second half, cutting the lead to 54-50 on Natasha Bailey’s layup from Beatty with 10:12 to go. But Smith responded with a 10-2 run.

"Thirty-one? It didn’t seem like I had that many," Beatty said. "But I just wanted to win. That was the main thing. We’ve got to stop getting way behind like we did today."

NOTES — Robinson was coaching in her hometown on Saturday, but that wasn’t the only cross-connection on the benches. Eagles assistant Steve Joyner Jr. is a JCSU alumnus, and his cousin Ed Joyner Jr. is a JCSU assistant. Also, Hillside High graduate Monica Johnson, who played for Taylor at Elizabeth City State, is an assistant coach for JCSU.