Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – A slow start for the Norfolk State women's basketball team turned into a double-digit victory as the Spartans defeated Chowan, 60-43, Wednesday night in NSU's home opener at Joseph Echols Hall.

Both teams left plenty of points on the floor, as NSU shot just 30.2 percent for the game, still an improvement over Chowan's 20.3 percent clip. Despite holding a six-point lead at the half, the Spartans eventually moved to 2-0 on the year, while Chowan fell to 1-2. The teams combined for 59 free throws and just two baskets in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Senior Whitney Long tallied 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting, while sophomore Rachel Gordon added seven points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Long scored nine of the team's 19 baskets. NSU also held a 61-43 edge in rebounds, the most boards in a game since the Spartans grabbed 65 against Howard on Feb. 4, 2008.

Junior Marian Brooks added 12 boards, while sophomore Rae Corbo was the team's second-leading scorer with eight points. Long had a team-high three steals, while junior Recca Trice handed out five assists.

Chowan was led by the duo of Talaya Lynch and Janelle Murphy with 14 and 12 points, respectively, and Lynch also led the team in rebounds with seven. No other player had more than four points for the Hawks.

NSU hit 19-of-63 from the floor for the game, while Chowan sank 12-of-59, including a 4-of-17 mark from beyond the arc. The Spartans made just one of their five attempts from 3-point land. NSU also made 21-of-33 from the free throw line (63.6 percent), compared to 15-of-26 for the Hawks (57.7 percent).

Neither team played clean basketball early on to start the game, as Long's fastbreak layup at 15:47 counted as the first bucket of the game. A 3-pointer by Courtney Smith and two free throws from Courtney Knight gave the Hawks an 8-5 lead at 12:36, but an 8-2 run by NSU, capped by a basket from Long in the middle of the lane, made it 13-10 in favor of the Spartans.

A trey from Long extended it to six at 19-13 near the 8:30 mark, but Chowan cut the deficit back down to one a minute later. A pair of free throws from Trice three minutes later with 4:29 remaining gave the Spartans their biggest lead of the half, 25-18. Long hit a pair of baskets in the last couple minutes of the first stanza to give NSU a 30-24 edge heading into the break.

Long had 13 points at the half, while Murphy added nine for Chowan, which hit just 23.3 percent in the half.

The Spartans then took control of the game as the second half got underway, holding Chowan to just four points for the first 7:45 of play. A 10-0 run by the Spartans during that time extended their lead to 44-28. Long continued to shine, hitting a pair of jumpers 36 seconds apart during those opening minutes to help NSU pull ahead.

Summer Curtis finally ended Chowan's scoring drought – nearly five and a half minutes worth – with a layup at 12:14, but back-to-back baskets by freshman Ebony Brown and Long gave the Spartans a 48-30 lead with 11:11 left in the game. Gordon, Corbo and Brown each knocked down a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 54-32 with 9:19 left. Corbo's steal near the top of the arc and subsequent fastbreak bunny at 7:18 marked NSU's first bucket in almost four minutes and the last the team scored the rest of the contest.

The contest turned into a free throw contest as the half ticked down, as the teams combined for 38 charity stripe shots in the second half alone. Lynch's trey with 5:21 to go marked Chowan's last bucket of the game and the only one in the last 10:44 of play for the Hawks. Freshman Ashley Deal saw the first action of her collegiate career with under three minutes left and both teams emptied their benches in those last few minutes of play. Freshman Ashley Dillard hit a free throw with just over a minute to play for her first collegiate points.

The teams combined for 27 turnovers, and both teams had four blocks apiece. The Hawks held a slight edge in steals, 12-10.

NSU will hit the road for two games in three days, starting with Wofford Saturday at 2 p.m. and continuing with USC Upstate on Monday night.