This Weekend's Schedule
Saturday: NSU at Morgan State, 2 p.m., Talmadge Hill Field House
Monday: NSU at Coppin State, 5:30 p.m., Physical Education Complex
Radio: WNSB Hot 91.1 FM (Live on Saturday; Tape-Delayed on Monday Until After the Men's Game)
Live Audio Feed | Live Video (Coppin State) | Game Notes: Morgan State | Coppin State
NORFOLK, Va. - The Spartans will hit the road for the first time in conference play as the Norfolk State women's basketball team heads to Baltimore to take on Morgan State Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Talmadge Hill Field House. NSU will follow that up with a contest at Coppin State on Monday.
NSU won the last meeting against Morgan State in Norfolk late last season to break an eight-game losing streak in the series. Prior to that, NSU had won 11 in a row, and the Spartans still lead the all-time series, 14-11.
Coppin State has won the last 11 meetings in the series and leads overall, 17-6.
Media Coverage: The game against Morgan State can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1 FM, with Joe Cook and Ross Gordon on the call. The contest at Coppin State will be tape delayed until after the men's game that night. Coppin State will also provide a live video stream.
Last Time Out: The Howard trio of Saadia Doyle, Tamoria Holmes and Zykia Brown combined for 61 points as the Bison downed NSU, 73-50, last Monday at Joseph Echols Hall. NSU committed 14 turnovers in the first half and scored just 16 points as the Bison led at the break, 33-16.
Whitney Long and Rae Corbo led NSU with 14 and 12 points, respectively, while Rachel Gordon added nine points and 10 rebounds. The Spartans committed just four turnovers in the second half but still shot just 30.9 percent for the game. NSU hit 14-of-19 from the charity stripe, while Howard was a perfect 15-of-15.
March to 1,000: Whitney Long needs just 59 points to become the 20th player all-time at NSU with 1,000 career points. She has reached double digits in scoring in 10 of the last 12 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.
Defensive Minded: Rachel Gordon has tallied double-digit efforts in rebounds in nine of the team's 15 games this year. Dating back to last season, Gordon has posted 10 or more rebounds in 12 of the last 20 games.
Cracking the top 10: Recca Trice moved into ninth place all-time in the NSU record book for career assists during the Monmouth contest, and her 262 career helpers now puts her 16 away from tying Toia Johnson for eighth all time. In addition, Whitney Long now sits alone in third place all-time in career treys as well (See Page 3).
MEAC, NCAA Leaderboard: As a team NSU ranks in the top 4 in seven different categories in the MEAC, while NSU players rank in the top 5 in five different categories, including Rachel Gordon, who stands second in offensive rebounding (4.0) and defensive rebounding (5.3). Heading into the week, Gordon ranked 53rd in the nation in rebounding.
What's the Opposite of a Sophomore Slump?: Rachel Gordon has tallied 9.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game this year. Her production is up 3.4 points and 2.7 rebounds per game from last year. Rae Corbo, meanwhile, has upped her scoring average by 2.1 points per game and has committed nearly 1 less turnover per contest.
Better in the Second Half: So far this season, NSU has scored 105 more points in the second half than the first half, an average of 7.0 points per game. The Spartans have outscored their opponents by a combined 43 points in the second stanza. NSU is 6-0 this year when either leading or tied at the half, but just 1-8 when trailing at the break.
Limiting Those Turnovers: In seven of the last nine games, NSU has committed 18 or fewer turnovers, including a season-low 11 against St. Bonaventure. After averaging more than 20 per game last season and finishing 272nd in the nation in turnover ratio at -2.43, NSU ranks 109th in the nation this heading into the week with a +1.36 ratio. In fact, except for 3-point field goals per game, NSU has improved its national ranking in every category from last year (See Page 5), including by more than 100 spots in scoring offense, scoring margin, turnover margin and field goal defense.
Winning the Rebounding Battle: NSU outrebounded its first six opponents of the season and has held the edge in eight games overall. So far this year, the Spartans are outrebounding their opponents by 0.9 boards per game, a +2.4 difference from a season ago.
Same Starters: After using 13 different starting combinations in 2010-11, the Spartans have used just three this year, including the same five of Batavia Owens, Rachel Gordon, Rae Corbo, Whitney Long and Recca Trice in 11 games. When those five are on the court, they are averaging 10.22 more points than their opponents per 40 minutes of play.
Ending Some Losing Streaks: Heading into the season, NSU had lost at least six games in a row to seven different MEAC opponents. The Spartans were able to cross UMES off that list, as the Hawks saw their six-game win streak over NSU come to an end on Jan. 7. Delaware State, Coppin State, Howard, Hampton, North Carolina A&T and Florida A&M each own an active seven-games-or-more win streak against NSU. The Spartans ended an eight-game losing streak to Morgan State last year.
Outshooting the Competition: So far this season, NSU has shot better from the floor than its opponents in 10 of the 15 games. In the Division I era NSU has hit from better than 53 percent in six games, with two of those coming this year.
Scoring Tidbits: The duo of Rachel Gordon, Whitney Long and Rae Corbo have combined for 27 of the team's 38 double digit scoring efforts and 56.4 of the team's total scoring on the year. NSU has also dominated the inside scoring, averaging 7.6 more points in the paint per game.
Up Next: NSU will play the first of two games this season against rival Hampton on Jan. 21 for a 4 p.m. start time in Hampton.
