Full Game Notes
NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk State women's basketball team kicks off the 2010-11 campaign by visiting an old foe from its Division II days. The Spartans and the Tigers of St. Paul's College will face-off at 6 p.m. from Taylor-Whitehead Gym in Lawrenceville, Va.
NSU leads the all-time series 47-1, with last year's 78-74 win by the Spartans in Norfolk serving as the first meeting between the two since NSU moved up to the Division I level for the 1997-98 school year.
St. Paul's only win in the series came during the 1979-80 season, a 73-64 win by the Tigers.
New Look Spartans: Of the 11 players who saw time on the court last season, only six are back in Head Coach Debra Clark's second season. Clark and assistant coaches Lashondra Dixon-Gordon and Kenny Edwards brought in five freshmen and one junior college transfer to create a good mix of veterans and newcomers.
Those six players, though, combined to make all but 17 of the 135 starts in those 27 games last year. Three of them - senior Genor Dalton and juniors Tyisha Bridges and Whitney Long - all have at least two full years in the program, while the other three - sophomores Recca Trice, Batavia Owens and Marian Brooks - played significant roles for the team last year and will be counted on even more this season.
Not lacking on experience, the staff brought in a good mixture of newbies who look to give the team as much if not more of a deeper rotation than last year. Guards Rae Corbo and Tia Moore add to the 1 and 2 spots with both Trice and Long, while junior college transfer Sarah Daily brings an out-work-the-opponent attitude to the No. 3 spot along with Dalton and Bridges.
Three other freshmen - Rachel Gordon, Destiny Spence and Carlon Chambers - will assist Owens and Brooks at the 4 and 5, with Chambers serving as the backup to Owens at center and Gordon and Spence complementing Brooks at the 4. Read the full season preview here.
A First Glimpse of the 2010-11 Squad: NSU fans got a peek at what the 2010-11 season may hold Tuesday at Joseph Echols Hall in an exhibition win over Elizabeth City State, 59-54. A crowd of 1,396 was on hand as the Spartans held on for the win.
A pair of freshmen made their presence felt as Corbo tallied a team-high 13 points with five rebounds and three steals, while Gordon had a game-high eight rebounds and 10 points. Corbo also went 6-of-6 from the free throw line, making all of her free throws with under three minutes remaining in the game to help seal the win.
NSU also received solid efforts from Long (10 points), Trice (eight points, six assists, two steals) and Owens (eight points, two steals), while Daily added six points and four rebounds but more importantly showed flashes of what she is capable of once she gets her feet wet in the early part of the season.
The Spartans played solid defense, limiting the Lady Vikings to 36.7 percent shooting, including 23.1 percent (6-of-26) from 3-point range. NSU hit 44.9 percent from the floor - it would have been the fourth-best shooting clip last year - and had a 36-35 edge in rebounding.
NSU fell behind by as much as seven in the second half before a 13-3 run beginning with just six minutes left in the half sparked NSU to the win. Read the full recap here.
Mixing It Up: NSU will use a lot of combinations on the floor throughout the season, and it showed againt Elizabeth City State. Nine players saw at least 11 minutes on the court, with Bridges sitting out most of the game due to a sore lower leg. Only Moore and Spence did not get into the game.
Owens, Trice, Long, Gordon and Dalton were the starting five against the Vikings.
Fans Flock to Echols: The announced attendance of 1,396 at the exhibition against the Vikings marked the highest home attendance for the women's team since 1,992 came out to watch NSU against Hampton on Feb. 2, 2008.
Trio of Captains: Bridges, Trice and Daily were named captains prior to the start of the season. The honor is a testament to how much the players and staff believe in Daily's leadership and hard-work mentality, as she was named captain despite never having played a game for the Spartans prior to this year.
Charity Stripe Success: The Spartans shot better from the free throw line than their opponent in 19 of 27 games last year and made either as many or more free throws than the opposition in 17 of those 27 games. Against Elizabeth City State, NSU hit 13-of-19 (68.4 percent), while the Vikings were just 4-of-9 (44.4 percent).
Spartans Get No Respect: NSU was picked to finish 11th in the MEAC this season in the preseason poll as voted on by coaches and sports information directors. NSU received just 32 points overall, trailing the No. 10 team in the poll, Delaware State, which received 124 points. After going winless in the MEAC in 2009-10 with a 0-16 record, the Spartans will have to earn the league's respect out on the court.
Up Next: The Spartans will spend next weekend in Morehead, Ky., to face Houston Baptist, Central Arkansas and host Morehead State in a three-day tournament Nov. 19-21.
