Hawk Holiday Classic Tournament Schedule
Thursday: vs. Monmouth, 2 p.m.
Friday: vs. Villanova/St. Bonaventure, 2/4 p.m.
Live Stats | Live Video | Game Notes (vs. Monmouth)

NORFOLK, Va. - Two games in two days await the Norfolk State women's basketball team as the Spartans travel to New Jersey to take part in the Hawk Holiday Classic at Monmouth. NSU will face the host Hawks Thursday at 2 p.m., and then either Villanova or St. Bonaventure on Friday.

Monmouth (3-8) has won the previous two meetings between the teams, with the Hawks picking up wins in 2002-03 and then again the next season in a home-and-away series with NSU. The Spartans have never faced St. Bonaventure (11-1) or Villanova (9-2).

Media Coverage: Live stats and a live video feed for the tournament will be available through www.GoMuhawks.com.

Last Time Out: Courtney Hurt and Andrea Barbour each scored 22 points to lead VCU to a 79-59 victory over NSU on Dec. 21 in Richmond. The Rams scored 29 poiints off NSU turnovers, jumping out to a 46-18 halftime lead. NSU outscored VCU by eight in the second half.

Whitney Long led NSU with 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting, while Rachel Gordon added 12 points and six boards. Rae Corbo had eight points and three assists, while Ebony Brown contributed seven points.

Defensive Minded: Rachel Gordon has tallied double-digit efforts in rebounds in seven of the team's 10 games this year. Dating back to last season, Gordon has posted 10 or more rebounds in 10 of the last 15 games.

Cracking the top 10: Recca Trice moved into 10th place all-time in the NSU record book for career assists durng the Radford contest, and her 242 career helpers now puts her three away from tying Ann Theus for ninth all time. In addition, Whitney Long is four 3-pointers away from moving into a tie for third place all-time in career treys as well (See Page 3).

March to 1,000: Whitney Long needs just 116 points to become the 20th player all-time at NSU with 1,000 career points. She has reached double digits in scoring in seven straight games, and at her current pace, she could finish as high as 13th all-time in scoring at NSU by the end of the season.

MEAC, NCAA Leaderboard: As a team NSU ranks in the top 3 in nine different categories in the MEAC, including first overall in field goal percentage (41.3) and assists (12.7).

NSU players rank in the top 5 in eight different categories in the league, including Rachel Gordon, who leads the league in rebounding (10.0). Prior to the Christmas holiday, Gordon ranked 18th in the nation in rebounding, while Recca Trice stood 37th in the nation in assists and second in the MEAC.

In addition, NSU ranked 42nd in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage defense (25.3).

Winning the Rebounding Battle: NSU outrebounded its first six opponents of the season after doing the same in the first five games of last season. So far this year, the Spartans are outrebounding their opponents by 1.8 boards per game, a +3.3 difference from a season ago.

What's the Opposite of a Sophomore Slump?: Rachel Gordon has tallied 10.4 points and 10.0 rebounds per game this year. Her production is up 4.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game from last year.

Strong Defense: NSU has given up just 50 or fewer points to three opponents this year, the first time doing so since the 2003-04 season. The Spartans have also held three opponents under 30 percent shooting, after having done so just two times the previous four seasons combined.

Same Starters: After using 13 different starting combinations in 2010-11, the Spartans have used the same five of Batavia Owens, Rachel Gordon, Rae Corbo, Whitney Long and Recca Trice in nine of the team's 10 games this year. When those five are on the court, they are averaging nearly 7.6 points more than their opponents per 40 minutes of play.

Trio of Scorers: Rae Corbo, Whitney Long and Rachel Gordon have combined to score 399 of the team's 681 total points on the year, 58.6 percent of the team's total scoring. They have combined for 20 of the team's 28 double-digit scoring performances on the year.

Lights Out: NSU's three main post players, Batavia Owens, Marian Brooks and Rachel Gordon, have combined to shoot 85-of-178 (47.7 percent) from the floor this season. The Spartans are averaging 9.6 more points in the paint per game than their opponents.

Up Next: NSU will host George Mason on Monday at 6 p.m. before diving into MEAC play the rest of the season.