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NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State women's basketball team improved to 4-1 on the season with a 66-51 win over Wofford Saturday afternoon in the team's home opener at Joseph Echols Hall.

It was not always pretty, but NSU secured its second-best start to a season in the Division I era, thanks to balanced scoring across the board. Freshman Rae Corbo led all players with 13 points and was one of six players for the Spartans with at least seven points.

The story of the day, though, was Wofford's 36 turnovers, which NSU turned into 40 points. The Spartans held a 40-15 advantage in points off turnovers, with NSU committing 23 turnovers on the day.

The Spartans also had a 43-38 edge in rebounds, with 22 of those boards coming on the offensive glass. NSU led in second-chance points, 17-5.

Juniors Whitney Long and Sarah Daily also reached double figures in scoring with 12 and 11 points, respectively, while sophomore Batavia Owens and freshman Rachel Gordon each had seven rebounds. Freshman Recca Trice added seven points and had a game-high five assists.

NSU shot just 36.7 percent for the game, while the Terriers did not fare much better, hitting 38.3 percent. The Spartans hit 18-of-28 (64.3 percent) from the free throw line, while Wofford connected on 11-of-18 (61.1 percent). The Spartans were also 4-of-8 from the 3-point line, compared to 4-of-12 for the Terriers.

Wofford (2-4) was led by Logan Morris with 11 points, while Rachel Brittenham and Mahagony Williams posted 10 points each.

NSU avenged last year's 77-75 overtime loss at Wofford. Since 1997-98, when NSU entered D-I play, the only other time the Spartans began the year 4-1 occurred in the 2001-02 season, when NSU went on to capture the MEAC tournament championship.

The Spartans did not start off well, though, against the Terriers, as a pair of free throws by Gordon with 15:57 left in the first half marked NSU's first points of the game after Wofford had opened up a 6-0 lead to kick things off. Those two free throws were the start of a long 23-5 run for the Spartans that gave them a lead they did not relinquish the rest of the way.

Long's 3-pointer gave NSU the lead for good at 12-9 with 11:55 showing on the clock, and Wofford hit a cold streak throughout the mid-portion of the first half. The Terriers went more than six minutes without scoring a point, going from up by two, 9-7, to down by nine, 18-9, before Williams hit a layup to make it 18-11 with eight and a half minutes left.

The Spartans had the lead up to 12 with 7:32 to go, but a pair of free throws by Williams finished an 8-2 run by the Terriers that cut the lead to six at 25-19 with exactly five minutes left. Any hopes of Wofford getting any closer were dashed when the Spartans put together a 9-2 run to end the half for a 34-21 lead.

Long had 10 of her 12 points in the first half.

The Spartans got the lead up to 16 when Corbo completed a 3-point play with 17:09 left as NSU found itself up, 41-25. Wofford cut the lead down to 11 with 12:16 to go when Daniella Motley secured a layup, but a 3-pointer from junior Tyisha Bridges made it 47-31.

NSU had the answer every time Wofford was able to get a little closer, and then a pair of free throws each by Gordon and sophomore Marian Brooks pushed the lead to 18 with a little more than five and a half minutes to go, 58-40.

NSU got up by as much as 21 at 66-45 when Trice hit a fastbreak jumper with 2:28 to go, and Wofford scored the last six points of the game as NSU picked up the victory, 66-51.