Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – Morgan State connected on 23-of-27 from the charity stripe, including on all eight shots in the last minute of play, and overcame a huge disparity in rebounding to down the Norfolk State women's basketball team, 75-69, Saturday afternoon at Joseph Echols Hall.

The Bears (6-14, 3-4 MEAC) hit 20-of-23 from the foul line in the second half alone and held NSU (8-11, 3-5) to just 34.2 percent shooting for the game. The Spartans held a 54-36 edge on the boards, including a 26-6 advantage in offensive rebounds, but were unable to overcome their 15-of-28 shooting clip from the charity stripe.

Senior Whitney Long led all players with 18 points and now stands just 13 away from reaching 1,000 for her career. Junior Batavia Owens and sophomore Rachel Gordon each tallied double doubles, with Owens contributing 13 points and 16 rebounds and Gordon tallying 16 points and 19 boards.

Both players had double-doubles in the first meeting with the Bears two weeks ago. Gordon had a career high in rebounds and the most in a game for NSU since Owens grabbed 20 two seasons ago against Winston-Salem State.

Morgan State held a double-digit lead at the midway point of the second half and was up by 11 with four and a half minutes left before the Spartans slowly began to chip away at the deficit. NSU got the MSU lead down to five and then got as close as three with just under a minute left. Owens hit a jumper in the paint, got fouled and then sank the free throw to make it 67-64 in favor of the Bears.

Morgan State, though, connected on all eight of its attempts from the free throw line after that, while NSU missed four shot attempts and four free throws in that last minute of play.

Sophomore Rae Corbo reached double digits in scoring for the sixth straight game with 13, while Long had a game-high five steals. NSU connected on just 25-of-73 from the floor for the game, including 3-of-12 from the 3-point line.

Omara Parker led Morgan State with 17 points, while Chyress Lockhart and Dekeisha Mathis added 16 and 15, respectively.

Long nailed a jumper at the 16:43 mark for the first bucket of the game for either team, and NSU held Morgan State scoreless for the first four minutes. Down 8-5 at the 14:46 mark, the Bears used a 7-2 run over the next four minutes of the game to take their first lead, 12-10.

Gordon hit three free throws to help NSU take the lead back, but four different players converted field goals during a 9-2 run by Morgan State that gave the Bears the advantage right back, 23-18. A short 7-0 run during just a minute's worth of game time, highlighted by a wide-open trey from Long, put the Spartans back up by two, 25-23, with just 2:25 left in the half.

Long then hit another trey with just 25 seconds left in the first stanza as the two teams went into the break tied up at 28-28. Long led NSU with 10 points at the intermission, while Owens and Gordon combined for 17 rebounds.

Owens hit a pair of layups early on in the second half, but Morgan State connected on a trio of 3-pointers as well as a couple of traditional 3-point plays for a 45-34 lead at the 14:27 mark. The Bears used an 18-4 run following those two layups from Owens to stretch their lead to the biggest of the game, 49-36, at the 12:34 mark.

Owens finally ended that long Bear run with a layup down low 20 seconds later, and Gordon hit three more buckets to help cut the deficit to eight, 55-47, with 9:20 left in the game. The Spartans hit a cold streak, though, converting just one basket over the next five minutes before Gordon and Long hit a pair of buckets just 10 seconds apart with around four and a half minutes remaining.

NSU used its rebounding edge to outscore Morgan State, 20-8, in second-chance points.

Moneshia Davis added 13 points for the Bears, while Amarah Williams led them with eight rebounds to go along with six points. Morgan State sank 23-of-56 for the game (41.1 percent).

NSU will host Coppin State at Echols Hall Monday at 6 p.m.