Box Score

PRINCESSE ANNE, Md. – Down by just four early in the second half, the wheels fell apart after that for the Norfolk State women's basketball team in a 72-49 loss to UMES Saturday afternoon at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center.

The Hawks used a big run after the Spartans had cut the deficit to that four-point margin, and NSU was never able to recover, converting just three baskets in a nearly 10-minute span. The Spartans dropped their third in a row and fell to 8-11 overall and 1-8 in the MEAC. The Hawks saw their record improve to 8-14, 5-4 in the conference.

Junior Sarah Daily led the Spartans with 12 points, while sophomore Batavia Owens contributed seven. Freshman Rachel Gordon tallied a team-high eight rebounds with five points.

Chena Parker and Casey Morton tallied 19 and 18 points, respectively, for the Hawks, while Adobi Agbasi added nine points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

UMES had a huge advantage on the boards, 52-36, despite shooting just 36.1 percent for the game on 22-of-26 shooting. NSU hit just 33.3 percent on 17-of-51 shooting. The Hawks sank a combined 24-of-38 from the free throw line, including 25 second-half attempts after NSU fell behind by more than 15.

NSU was 13-of-21 from the charity stripe despite committing just five more fouls than UMES. The Hawks had 25 offensive boards among their 52 rebounds, which led to a 21-10 advantage in second-chance points.

NSU was slow out of the gates, falling behind by a 9-2 score early on and then again at 15-7 thanks to eight points by Parker. The Spartans, though, rebounded with a 10-2 run. Daily drained a 3-pointer from near the top of the arc during the run to help the Spartans cut the deficit to two, 15-13.

After freshman Rae Corbo hit a pair of free throws to tie the score up at 17-17 with 10:27 to go, UMES pulled ahead on the heels of a 12-4 run. NSU converted just one field goal during a 12 and a half minute stretch, a layup by freshman Tia Moore at the 6:07 mark, as UMES took a 10-point lead.

Junior Tyisha Bridges hit a layup with 36 seconds left in the half to close the gap to eight at the half, 32-24. Parker led all players with 12 points at the break, while Daily had a team-high eight for the Spartans.

A pair of baskets by Bridges and sophomore Marian Brooks cut the deficit to four to start the second half, 32-28, but a 16-6 run by the Hawks pushed their advantage to 14, 48-34, with 10:11 to go. NSU got no closer than 13 points the rest of the way, and UMES got the lead up to as many as 24 as the Hawks cruised to the win.

The Spartans will complete the four-game road swing Monday at Delaware State. Game time is 5:30 p.m.