Thursday: at North Carolina A&T, 5:30 p.m., Corbett Sports Center
Radio: WNSB Hot 91.1
Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - The regular season will come to a close Thursday at North Carolina A&T as the Norfolk State women's basketball team looks to pick up one more win before heading to the MEAC tournament next Monday as the No. 9 seed.

The series is all-tied up at 14-14 between NSU and N.C. A&T despite the fact the Aggies have won 10 in a row, with nine of those 10 by at least 16 points or more.

NSU has already locked up the No. 9 seed for the MEAC tournament and will face either Bethune-Cookman, South Carolina State or UMES next Monday at 11 a.m. in the first game of championship week at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Media Coverage: The game against the Aggies can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1 FM, with Ross Gordon and Joe Cook on the call. Live stats and a live video stream will be available as well.

Last Time Out: NSU hung around into the second half, but the team's poor second half shooting caught up to the Spartans as FAMU erased a five-point deficit to win by 17, 81-64, last Monday at the Alfred Lawson Center. The Rattlers hit 12 3-pointers for the game and connected on better than 56 percent in the second half.

NSU was led by Rae Corbo with 12 points, and the duo of Rachel Gordon and Whitney Long who each added 11 on the night. Gordon also had 10 rebounds to complete the double-double, while Batavia Owens just missed with nine points and nine boards. Antonia Bennett and Jasmine Grice each posted 21 points for FAMU.

Big Second Halves: Senior guard Whitney Long had 25 second-half points in a comeback win over Delaware State Feb. 18, the first time in three years a player reached double-digit points in a half. She then duplicated that feat with 22 second-half points on the way to a career-high 32-point effort in the next game at B-CU Feb. 25. So far this season, Long has scored 225 of her 375 points on the season (60.0 percent) either in the second half or overtime.

Long tallied the most points in a game since Raychele Payne set the Division I scoring record with 36 points against South Carolina State on Feb. 21, 2009. Counting her 27-point effort against DSU, Long had two of her three all-time best scoring efforts at NSU in two straight games.

Bridges Steps Up: Tyisha Bridges has made the most of her six starts on the season in the last six games, scoring 10.5 points per game over that time. She tied her career high with 18 points at Delaware State Feb. 4, and she has shot a combined 22-of-50 from the floor and 17-of-19 from the free throw line during the six-game stretch.

Division I Record Chasing: With 127 helpers this season, Recca Trice currently sits fourth in Division-I history for assists in a season, needing 10 more to move into second place. In addition, Rachel Gordon stands third in rebounds (262) and is five away from moving to second. Whitney Long ranks fifth in points (375) and sixth in field goals made (147) and 3-point field goals (46) made. She needs three more points to move into fourth and 13 more field goals to move into second all-time in Division I history (See Page 5).

Another Goal Crossed Off the List: For just the second time in 10 season, NSU reached double digits in wins after the overtime victory against Delaware State. Since winning the MEAC title in 2002, NSU has reached 10 or more victories in just two seasons - this year and in 2004-05 (12-18).

That Pesky Halftime Deficit: NSU erased a nine-point halftime deficit against Delaware State on Feb. 18, just the second time this season the Spartans have come back to win after being down at the break. NSU stands 8-4 on the season when either tied or leading at the half but just 2-12 when trailing.

March to 1,000: Whitney Long became the 20th player all-time at NSU with 1,000 career points after draining a 3-pointer in the first half at Delaware State on Feb. 4. She has reached double digits in scoring in 20 of 26 games this season. She currently ranks 16th in career scoring and needs 11 more points to jump ahead to 14th all-time in scoring at NSU.

Defensive Minded: Rachel Gordon has tallied double-digit efforts in rebounds in 16 of the team's 26 games this year. Dating back to last season, Gordon has posted 10 or more rebounds in 19 of the last 31 games. Gordon ranked 22nd in the nation in rebounding heading into the week and first in the MEAC. She is one of 25 players in the nation averaging double-digit rebounds.

Ending Some Losing Streaks: Heading into the season, NSU had lost at least six games in a row to seven different MEAC opponents. So far, the Spartans have been able to cross UMES and Delaware State off that list. The Hawks saw their six-game win streak over NSU come to an end on Jan. 7, while Delaware State saw its 11-game win streak over NSU fall on Feb. 4.

Coppin State, Bethune-Cookman, Howard, Hampton, North Carolina A&T and Florida A&M each own an active six-games-or-more win streak against NSU. The Spartans ended an eight-game losing streak to Morgan State last year.

Winning the Rebounding Battle: NSU outrebounded its first six opponents of the season and has held the edge in 15 games overall. So far this year, the Spartans are outrebounding their opponents by 2.0 boards per game, a +3.5 difference from a season ago.

Cracking the top 10: Recca Trice recently moved into seventh place all-time in the NSU record book for career assists during the Feb. 18 contest against Delaware State. Her 323 career helpers now puts her 34 away from tying Kiersten Portlock for sixth all time. In addition, Whitney Long now sits alone in third place all-time in career treys and 17th in career field goals made (See Page 5).

MEAC, NCAA Leaderboard: As a team NSU ranks in the top 5 in eight different categories in the MEAC, while NSU players rank in the top 5 in seven different categories, including Rachel Gordon, who leads the league in rebounding at 10.1 boards per game.

Heading into the week, Gordon ranked 22nd in the nation in rebounding. As a team, NSU is ranked better nationally than last year in all categories except scoring defense and 3-point field goals per game.

Up Next: The Spartans will open the 2012 MEAC tournament Monday at 11 a.m. at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Coliseum.