Box Score
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The Maryland Eastern Shore women's basketball team handed Norfolk State its fifth straight loss in an 88-65 rout Monday night at the W.P. Hytche Center. UMES improved to 8-8, 1-2 MEAC, while NSU fell to 2-12, 0-5.
The Lady Hawks took control of the game from the beginning and would lead for the entire game. They jumped out to a 13-point lead, 20-7, on a jumper by Tiffany Reid with 12 minutes left in the first half. The Spartans soon found themselves down by as much as 25 points when Reid hit another jumper with 3:05 left.
Tashawna Higgins (Toronto, Ontario) and Danelle Tate (Stafford, Va.) scored the next eight points, contributing four apiece, to cut UMES' lead to 17, 45-28, going into halftime.
The Spartans came out more focused in the second half, but they could not overcome the first-half deficit. A jumper by Brittany Adkins with 12:46 left in the game gave UMES its largest lead of the game, 64-33, but NSU slowly chipped away at the lead and got within 17, 75-58, on a free throw by Ebony Gibbs (Petersburg, Va.) with 4:11 remaining.
NSU was limited to seven points in the final four minutes of the game and a free throw by Genor Dalton (Martinsville, Va.) ended the scoring at 88-65.
Despite the outcome, there were some bright points in the game for NSU. The Spartans' 65 points was their second-highest point total this season and they shot a season-high 41.8 percent (23-of-55) from the field for the game. On the flip side, though, NSU was outrebounded 43-28, committed 30 turnovers, and allowed a season-high 56.4 percent (31-of-55) shooting from the floor.
The Lady Hawks' starting five all scored in double figures, and were led by Casey Morton who 20 points and six assists. Brittany Adkins had 16 points, Chena Parker and Reid each had 12, and April McBride contributed 11.
Raychele Payne (Newport News, Va.) led NSU with a career-high 14 points and had four rebounds. Tate and Gibbs were the only other Spartans in double figures, scoring 13 and 10 points respectively.
NSU's nationally ranked defenders Tiffany Gadsden (Columbia, S.C.) (6th, 3.5 blocks per game) and Areya Walker (Portsmouth, Va.) (42nd, 9.3 rebounds per game) led the Spartan defense again. Gadsden had a game-high two blocks and Walker led the team with eight rebounds.
The Spartans return to Echols on Saturday to start a four-game homestand which begins with a 4 p.m. matchup against South Carolina State.
