Box Score
LAWRENCEVILLE, Va. – Freshman Rachel Gordon tallied 20 points in her first collegiate game as the Norfolk State women's basketball team opened up its 2010-11 season with a 68-44 win over St. Paul's Saturday evening at Brunswick High School.
Gordon shot 8-of-13 from the floor and also added 11 rebounds and three steals as the NSU defense stifled St. Paul's into a 28.8 percent shooting clip (17-of-59). The Tigers managed just 15 points in the first half.
It marked the first time NSU held an opponent under 30 percent shooting since Jan. 3, 2008, against Virginia Union (25.4 percent).
NSU (1-0) shot 49.1 percent overall, its best percentage in 25 games dating back to the game against St. Paul's last season at Echols Hall. The Spartans struggled at the line, though, hitting just 12-of-27 from the charity stripe (44.4 percent). The Tigers did not fare much better, hitting 9-of-17 (52.9 percent).
Sophomore Batavia Owens totaled 13 points and six rebounds, while junior Whitney Long joined her in double figures with 11 points. Long was one of four players for NSU to have three steals along with Gordon, sophomore Recca Trice and freshman Rae Corbo.
Corbo also posted five points, three rebounds and a game-high six assists, while Trice added four assists and four rebounds.
The Tigers were led by DeAudra Brown with 18 points, while Jasmine Stewert chipped in with 13. Tiffany Merritt had a game-high 12 rebounds with eight points.
The Spartans held a slight rebounding edge, 41-38, and also had more steals, 14-7, and assists, 19-6.
There was some rust early on for NSU, as the Spartans did not get on the scoreboard until the 13:13 mark, when Corbo drained the first of two 3-pointers on the night for NSU. Corbo's shot started a 13-0 run for NSU that gave the Spartans a 13-6 lead with 7:12 remaining, with Gordon scoring the last two baskets of that run for her first collegiate points.
Long stole the ball at midpoint and went in for the fastbreak layup at the 4:37 mark of the first half to extend the lead into double digits, 21-11. NSU got up by as much as 16 when sophomore Marian Brooks capped a 12-2 run with a lay-in for a 27-11 lead. Brooks sank another layup as time ran down in the first half to give the Spartans a 30-15 lead at the break.
St. Paul's cut the lead to 10 on several occasions early in the second half, the last at the 15:54 mark on a basket by Merritt.
Junior Sarah Daily capped a 9-2 run with a 3-pointer that gave NSU a 46-29 lead with 13:40 to go. Both teams then hit a cold streak, with NSU going almost six minutes without a score. The Tigers could only trim the deficit from 17 to 13 points during that time, as Gordon's layup with 7:51 left pushed the score to 48-33 and ended a nearly four and a half minute scoring drought for both teams.
A pair of free throws from the freshman ended an 8-2 for St. Paul's and started a huge 18-2 run for the Spartans that essentially put the game out of reach for the Tigers. Freshman Carlon Chambers scored the first two baskets of her career at the end of the run, the latter with just 2:42 to go.
Rookie Tia Moore got in on the scoring with 1:25 left in the second half for the first two points of her career as NSU cruised to the final margin, 68-44.
The last time NSU won by more than 24 points and held an opponent to fewer than 44 occurred on Feb. 7, 2005, a 72-41 win over Bethune-Cookman.
NSU will head to the Comfort Inn and Suites Classic at Morehead State for a three-day tournament beginning Friday against Houston Baptist at 4 p.m.
