SAVANNAH, Ga. –   Ezinne Kalu led all scorers with 21 points to lead Savannah State over NSU, 62-55, in their first MEAC game of the season on Saturday afternoon at Tiger Arena in Savannah, Ga.

Recca Trice and Aivah Parham led the Spartans with 12 points each.  Trice, who scored all 12 of her points in the second half, also had seven assists and two steals.  Parham tallied eight rebounds.

A jumper by Kashay Barnes put NSU (1-5) on the board first with 19:09 left in the first half. 

The Tigers (3-4) finally got on the board with a free throw by Erin Hogue with 18:39 on the clock.  In fact, the first four points for the Tigers came from free throws.  Savannah State did not hit a field-goal until Jasmine Kirkland got the layup with 13:10 left before the half and the Spartans led Savannah State, 9-6.

Jasmine Norman's jumper with 9:50 left in the half capped a 7-4 run by the Tigers to tie the score at 13 all.

However that tie was short lived as Rachel Gordon hit a jumper with 9:30 left to play.  From there the Spartans went on a 10-2 run with jumpers by Parham and Barnes to give NSU a 25-17 lead over Savannah State with 5:06 on the clock.

Ashley Dillard's layup with 0:01 seconds left gave the Spartans a 27-20 lead over the Tigers at halftime.

Andrietta Thomas came out hot for the Tigers hitting a jumper with 19:27 left in regulation to bring Savannah State within five as the Tigers trailed, 27-22. 

Trice's jumper with 17:06 remaining in the game sparked a 7-4 run for the Spartans as they continued to lead Savannah State, 37-28.

But the Tigers would not go down without a fight as they went on a 13-4 run which included a pair of layups by Ezinne Kalu to tie NSU 41-41 with 8:48 left.

The Tigers took the lead for the rest of the game after a free throw by Kalu with 7:47 left in regulation.

Trice's layup with 4:25 left on the clock brought the Spartans within three as NSU trailed, 49-46.

A jumper by Jasmine Norman capped a 9-5 run for the Tigers with 0:55 left in regulation to give the Tigers a 58-51 lead over NSU.

Aside from Kalu, the Tigers also had two other players finish with double figures including Andrietta Thomas who had 11 points and Jasmine Kirkland who added 10.

The Spartans shot 35.1 (20-of-57) percent from the floor.  Gordon had seven points total and led NSU with 10 rebounds.

NSU will travel to Orangeburg, S.C., on Monday to take on S.C. State at 5:30 p.m.