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NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk State women's basketball team will spend a second-consecutive weekend on the road beginning with UMES Saturday at 2 p.m.
NSU has a 16-8 advantage in the all-time series with the Hawks, although UMES has won five in a row. Delaware State has gone 20-12 all-time against NSU, with 10 wins in a row dating to NSU's last win on Feb. 26, 2005. The Spartans (8-10 overall, 1-7 MEAC), meanwhile, have gone just 1-8 in true road games this year.
Media Coverage: All of NSU's games from now until the end fo the season can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1 FM. Click here for the link to the live audio feed. In addition, live stats for the UMES can be found here, and for Delaware State here. UMES will also carry a live video stream here.
About UMES: The Hawks rebounded from a seven-game losing streak mid-way through the year and currently stand 7-14 overall and in the middle of the pack in the MEAC with a 4-4 conference mark.
Casey Morton and Kwinnyata Mercer have forme a 1-2 scoring punch with 11.5 and 10.3 points per game, respectively, with Chelsea Sanders third on the team with 8.2. Morton also leads the team in assists with 33 and steals with 40. Chena Parker posts a team-leading 5.0 rebounds.
The Hawks have struggled from the floor, hitting just 34.4 percent overall and averaging 53.7 points a game while giving up exactly 60 per contest. Although UMES has forced opponents into 20 turnovers a game, the Hawks also commit 21.6 themselves. UMES does lead the league in 3-point field goal defense at 23.9 percent.
About Delaware State: The Hornets are tied for NSU for last in the conference with a 1-7 record, going 5-15 overall this year. Delaware State has dropped its last six games, all in MEAC play. The team's only MEAC win was a 74-69 overtime victory at home against UMES.
Delaware State's defense has played well, limiting teams to just 61.8 points per game, as the Hornets average 10.3 steals and 3.6 blocks while forcing opponents into 21.7 turnovers per contest. DSU's offense, though, has been downright horrendous, averaging just 51.9 points a game and shooting 32.7 percent from the floor, including 26.4 percent from long range.
Five players average at least 6.9 points per game, lead by Kianna Conner with 9.2. Brittany Washington is the team's leading rebounder with 7.8 boards a game, while Deanna Harmon ranks second in scoring with 8.2 points and owns a team-leading 64 assists and 37 steals. At 38.3 percent, Alexis Johnson ranks as the team's leading shooter.
Last Time Out: Despite the absence of three of its top five players, Coppin State pulled away late in the second half for a 64-55 win over NSU last Monday. Tyisha Bridges and Sarah Daily led the way for the Spartans with 14 and 13 points, respectively, but NSU committed 29 turnovers on the day.
Larrisa Carter tallied 18 points to lead the Eagles, who also got scoring efforts from Shawntae Payne (17) and Kyra Coleman (15). NSU held the Eagles to 34.5 percent shooting, but the Spartans, who hit 37.0 percent for the game, hit just one field goal in the last 5:50 of the game.
Outshooting Everyone: Heading into the weekend, NSU was tops in the conference in field goal percentage (41.0) and 3-point field goal percentage (34.7). NSU has hit for 40 percent or better in seven of the last 11 games and in 11 games overall this year. The Spartans are the only team in the conference hitting above 40 percent.
Losing Streak, Goodbye: The win over S.C. State on Jan. 24 snapped a 24-game MEAC losing streak that dated back to the 2008-09 season. NSU's last win against a current member of the conference? That also happened to be S.C. State, back on Feb. 21, 2009 at Echols Hall.
Although North Carolina Central technically joins the league next year, NSU picked up its first MEAC weekend sweep since Jan. 28-30, 2006, at home against N.C. A&T and S.C. State.
Combined with the wins over NC Central and S.C. State by the NSU men's team last weekend, you have to go back to Jan. 2005 to find the last time both teams defeated the same two MEAC opponents in a row, home or away. And for good measure, the last time both NSU squads swept a weekend series at Echols Hall occurred Jan. 11-13, 2003, against Coppin State and Morgan State.
Long Lights Up the Scoreboard: Whitney Long was a key component to the victory over the Bulldogs, hitting 9-of-11 overall from the field and 6-of-7 from long range to fuel the Spartan attack. She fell just short of tying the program record for 3-pointers in a game with seven, accomplished twice in NSU women's basketball history, but did record a career high with her six treys.
Nationally Ranked (Almost): How good has Whitney Long been from long range? Her 45.9 percent clip from beyond the arc for the season would rank ninth in the nation, but the NCAA requires players to average 2 3-pointers made a game. Long has tallied 28 in 18 games.
Best Season in Six Years: With an 8-10 record, NSU has already surpassed the number of wins from the previous two seasons combined. With one more win, the Spartans will have secured the most victories since the 2004-05 campaign, when NSU had a 12-18 overall record.
NSU started the year out with a 4-1 record. The only other time that happened in the D-I era occurred during the 2001-02 season when NSU went on to capture the MEAC tournament title.
Hitting Those Free Throws: After struggling at the charity stripe for the first half of the season, NSU has connected on 52-of-73 (71.2 percent) in the last five games. Included in that stretch was a 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) effort at Coppin State on Jan. 31. NSU has not hit that well from the free throw line since March 2, 2009, when the Spartans posted a 12-of-13 effort (92.3 percent) from the line against Howard.
Balanced Scoring, Rebounding: NSU is one of two schools in the MEAC along with Hampton to have at least three players average 9.0 or more points per game, and the only team with three players averaging 6.0 or more rebounds per game.
Making the Extra Pass: NSU tallied 19 assists at Morgan State, the second time this season with that many after also having 19 against St. Paul's Nov. 13. Before the season, the last time NSU had at least 19 assists occurred Dec. 18, 2006 against Virginia Union. You have to go all the way back to Nov. 18, 2005 to find a time NSU had more assists. On that night, the Spartans had 20 helpers against Campbell.
Long Providing a Spark: Whitney Long has been a huge sparkplug for the NSU offense, as she tallied 17.7 points per game over a recent six game stretch from Dec. 15-Jan. 10. She had three games of 20+ points and shot just over 50 percent during that time. On the season she ranks tied for 11th in the conference with 11.4 points per game and ninth in field goal percentage (41.2) in addition to first in 3-point field goal percentage (45.9).
Mixing It Up: NSU has used a number of different combinations on the floor throughout the season. The Spartans have had nine different starting lineups, and nine players are averaging at least 12 minutes a game.
Telltale Signs: NSU is 7-1 on the season when leading at halftime but 1-9 when trailing. The Spartans are also 7-3 when winning the rebound battle and are just 1-8 on the road.
Owning the Glass: After getting outrebounded by 7.5 boards a game last year, NSU has been steady on the boards this year and owns a +0.9 rebounding margin. The Spartans have had the edge on the boards in 10 of the season's 18 games.
What Lies Ahead: NSU will return home to host Hampton Feb. 12 at Echols Hall.
