Box Score

HAMPTON, Va. – The Norfolk State women's basketball team could not overcome a big second half run that allowed league-leading Hampton to defeat the Spartans, 75-54, Saturday afternoon at the HU Convocation Center.

Junior Sarah Daily and sophomore Marian Brooks each tallied 12 points in the basketball version of the Battle of the Bay. Freshman Rachel Gordon also had a team-high eight rebounds to go along with 10 points for NSU (6-7, 0-4 MEAC).

Nicole Hamilton was one of four players in double figures for the Pirates with a game-high 16 points, while Melanie Warner posted 15. Quanneisha Perry had a double-double for Hampton (11-5, 4-0) with 10 points and 11 rebounds before leaving in the second half due to apparent cramps.

NSU shot well, hitting 42.1 percent for the game on 24-of-57 shooting, including better than 40 percent in both halves. The Pirates connected on 28-of-58 (48.3 percent) on the afternoon with a 5-of-16 effort from beyond the arc. The Spartans attempted just three 3-pointers and missed on all three attempts.

Both teams also struggled from the free throw line, with NSU shooting just 6-of-15, while Hampton was 14-of-28. The Pirates also owned a 41-34 edge on the boards.

Daily got NSU on the board first with her patented jumper from just inside the foul line, but Hampton went on an 18-1 run to take a commanding double-digit lead, 18-3. Junior Whitney Long hit from just inside the arc to break the run with 10:39 to go in the first half.

Brooks converted on a 3-point play on NSU's next possession, and a few minutes later NSU tallied six straight points without the ball ever leaving the offensive zone. Gordon got fouled on her make, and then hit a short jumper after Brooks got the offensive board off Gordon's missed free throw. Long then stole the inbounds pass and found freshman Rae Corbo to cut the deficit to six, 22-16.

A 9-2 run by the Pirates got the lead back into double-digits, 31-18, shortly before the under 4-minute media timeout. Brooks was just able to beat the shot clock to make it 34-24 with 1:24 left, as Hampton took a 38-26 lead into half.

Brooks sank a pair of baskets in the first few minutes of the second half, but Hampton kept NSU at bay as the first part of the second half wore on. Corbo cut the deficit to 11 with a high acrobatic shot over the defender at the 12:36 mark, the closest the Spartans got throughout the second half.

Despite Perry having to leave the game with 11:14 left on the clock, the Pirates used an extended 17-4 run that lasted more than seven and a half minutes to get the lead to the biggest of the game, 67-43, with exactly four minutes remaining.

Gordon's three baskets within a five-minute mark kept the deficit around that 20-point mark, but Hampton never looked back in taking the win, 75-54.

The Spartans will get back on the court Monday with a 6 p.m. contest at Howard.