Box Score

NORFOLK, Va. – A rough shooting performance in the first half for the Norfolk State women's basketball team and a career night from Saadia Doyle propelled Howard to a 66-49 win over the Spartans Monday night at Joseph Echols Hall on Breast Cancer Awareness Night.

The Spartans hit just 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) in the first half and had just 12 points at the break as they fell to 8-14 overall on the season and 1-11 in the MEAC. Saadia Doyle tallied a career-high 38 points and 10 rebounds for Howard, which improved to 11-15, 7-5.

Junior Sarah Daily led the Spartans with 10 points on the night, while freshman Rachel Gordon had a team-leading seven rebounds with eight points. Junior Whitney Long tallied nine points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists. Freshman Rae Corbo led the Spartans with five assists to go along with six points.

NSU dropped its sixth game in a row with the loss.

Tamoria Holmes was the only other player in double figures for the Bison with 11 points. She also added five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

NSU hit just 28.8 percent for the game on 15-of-52 shooting, while the Bison connected on 20-of-46 shots (43.5 percent), including a 12-of-22 performance in the first half. Howard also held the rebounding edge, 37-33, and was solid at the line, hitting 23-of-29 for the game.

Despite turning the ball over 21 times, compared to 22 for NSU, Howard held a 29-9 edge in points off turnovers.

Junior Tyisha Bridges finally got NSU on the board with a fastbreak layup at the 15:36 mark, but NSU missed 11 of its first 12 shots as the Bison ran out to a 15-2 lead more than 10 minutes into the game. Gordon ended the drought with a jumper from just inside the free throw line with 9:17 on the clock.

Freshman Carlon Chambers hit a pair of free throws then got a basket down low to get the Spartans into double digits on the scoreboard, but the Bison stretched the lead to 21 and went into the break holding a commanding 33-12 lead. Doyle outscored the entire NSU team, 16-12, in the first half.

The Spartans began chipping away at the lead in the second half after Long drained a 3-pointer for NSU's first basket of the second half at the 16:21 mark. That trey continued what eventually became a 10-0 run for the Spartans that cut into the Howard lead, 35-22.

The Bison finally ended more than a five and a half minute scoring drought when Holmes completed a three-point play at 14:03. Long kept NSU within striking distance with a pair of treys a minute apart, the latter making it 44-30 with 12:31 left. The Spartans kept Howard scoreless from the floor during a five-minute stretch that ended with 7:02 showing on the scoreboard.

The Bison, though, converted on nine straight free throws during that time to keep the lead above 11 points during that span. Corbo completed a traditional 3-point play with 7:25 to go to cut the lead to 11, 55-44, shortly before Kara Smith nailed a jumper to make it 57-44, to end that five-minute shooting dry spell.

The Spartans, though, made just one field goal the rest of the way, and the Bison went on to win by their 17-point margin.

NSU will attempt to get back on track next Saturday at North Carolina Central. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.