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NORFOLK, Va. - The regular season comes to a close as the Spartans host North Carolina A&T Thursday evening at Joseph Echols Hall. The game will also serve as Senior Night for NSU as the team honors its lone senior, Genor Dalton, before the game.
The Aggies and Spartans met way back on Dec. 4 in Greensboro, N.C., with A&T rallying from a two-point halftime deficit to win, 74-58.
Media Coverage: All of the action against A&T as well as in the MEAC tournament can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1 FM. Click here for the link to the audio feed. In addition, live stats and a live video feed for Thursday's game will also be available.
About N.C. A&T: The Aggies stand third in the league with a 9-6 record and own a 14-13 overall record this season after dropping a 74-69 decision to Morgan State at home on Monday. Jaquayla Berry (14.2 points, 6.0 rebounds) and Jaleesa Sams (13.7 points, 7.7 rebounds) pace the offense, while Berry also leads the team with 81 assists and 86 steals.
The Aggies work at a fast pace, averaging 68.0 points per game and giving up 69.3. This despite committing as well as forcing close to 22 turnovers a game. A&T shoots well, hitting 40 percent for the year, compared to 41.5 percent for opponents. The Aggies also average exactly 40 rebounds per game while allowing opponents to grab 40.4.
Last Time Out: NSU held an 11-point lead in the first half, but Coppin State trimmed it to four at the break and caught fire in the second half in a 64-50 win over NSU Monday. NSU shot just 28.4 percent for the game, while Coppin State hit 22.2 percent in the first half but better than 50 percent in the second half.
Whitney Long led NSU with 13 points, while Recca Trice added 11. Rachel Gordon and Batavia Owens each posted 11 rebounds. The Eagles were led by Kyra Coleman with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Larrisa Carter grabbed a game-high 13 boards with nine points.
What Lies Ahead: As the No. 11 seed, the Spartans will face one of a possible four teams still mathematically alive for the No. 6 seed next Tuesday at 4 p.m. Depending on the results from Thursday and possibly the results of the UMES-Bethune-Cookman make-up game on Saturday, NSU will face either UMES, Coppin State, FAMU or Howard.
Weekly Honorees: Rae Corbo was named MEAC Rookie of the Week on Monday, while Rachel Gordon was tabbed the MEAC Defensive Player of the Week. Corbo tallied 31 points in two games along with six rebounds, two assists and two steals, while Gordon grabbed 25 rebounds with two steals and two blocks. It marked just the third time in 14 weeks this year two players from the same team earned two of the three MEAC weekly honors, and the first time during conference play.
Gordon Turning Up the Production: Rachel Gordon has grabbed 12.0 rebounds in her last three games and 10.0 over the last five. She has also added eight assists and committed just seven turnovers in the previous four games. Gordon has converted on 18-of-37 shots dating back to Feb. 12 against Hampton.
Big Win: Not only did NSU break an eight-game losing streak to Morgan State on Saturday stretching back five years, but the Spartans picked up their second MEAC win for the first time in four seasons.
Limiting Mistakes: NSU committed season lows of 13 turnovers and 12 fouls against the Bears. For the first time in 15 games, the Spartans made more free throws than their opponent. It marked just the second time during that span NSU even attempted more free throws than the other team.
Outshooting Everyone: Heading into Thursday's action, NSU was tops in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage at 33.2 and third in field goal percentage at 39.1 percent.
Whitney Long is one of three players in the league shooting at least 38 percent from the floor and from 3-point range, minimum 10 made treys. Long stands first in the league in 3-point shooting at 42.4 percent.
Cleaning the Glass: NSU grabbed 47 rebounds in the loss to Coppin State on Monday, the most boards in 42 games dating back to Jan. 11, 2010 at Florida A&M. NSU posted 51 boards as a team that day. In addition, Batavia Owens and Rachel Gordon each had 11 rebounds, the second time this season a pair of teammates reached double digitis. Owens and Marian Brooks each had 10 against Central Arkansas.
Daily's Back: After posting just nine total points during a three-game set, Sarah Daily performed well in a nine-game stretch from Jan. 29-Feb. 26, averaging 10.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per contest. She shot 35-of-85 from the floor (41.2 percent), including 14-of-29 from the 3-point line (48.3 percent), during that time. After coming off the bench the first two games, Daily has started every game since then.
Nationally Ranked (Almost): How good has Whitney Long been from long range? Her 42.4 percent clip from beyond the arc for the season would rank tied for 16th in the nation, but the NCAA requires players to average 2 3-pointers made a game. Long has tallied 39 in 26 games.
Balanced Scoring, Rebounding: NSU is one of four schools in the MEAC along with Howard, Bethune-Cookman and Hampton to have at least three players in the top 23 in the league in scoring, and one of three along with Bethune-Cookman and N.C. A&T with three players in the top 18 in rebounds.
Rae Corbo has led or tied for the team lead in scoring in eight games, while Whitney Long has done so in seven games. Sarah Daily (six games), Batavia Owens (four games), Marian Brooks (two games) and Tyisha Bridges and Rachel Gordon (one game each) have also led the team in scoring this year.
Telltale Signs: NSU is 7-2 on the season when leading at halftime but 2-15 when trailing. The Spartans have also gone 1-12 in true road games, 2-0 in neutral site contests and 6-5 at home. They have also posted a 7-8 record in day games, but just a 2-9 record in night contests.
