Box Score DOVER Del. – Whitney Long reached 1,000 career points, and a hot-shooting Norfolk State women's basketball team got a career night from senior Tyisha Bridges in an 84-66 win over Delaware State Saturday afternoon at Memorial Hall.

Long became the 20th player in Spartan history to reach 1,000 points, and the first since Toia Johnson in 2007, part of a 17-point effort for the senior that helped NSU break a four-game losing streak. Bridges, meanwhile, tied her career high with 18 points, as the Spartans improved to 9-12 overall, 4-6 in MEAC play.

Delaware State fell to 4-17, 1-7 in conference play, thanks in part to NSU's Division I record 60.4 shooting clip. Tierra Hawkins and Tasia Bristow each tallied 21 points for the Hornets, who hit a respectable 45.1 percent for the day. NSU broke an 11-game losing streak to Delaware State.

The Spartans opened up a 19-point lead at the half, helped in large part by a six-minute, 18-0 run in the latter part of the first stanza, and Delaware State got no closer than 11 points the rest of the way. Delaware State jumped out to a five-point lead to start the game, but NSU took its first lead a little more than six and a half minutes into play and never relinquished it the rest of the game.

NSU dominated the paint, outscoring DSU by a 60-22 margin for the game. The up tempo play resulted in 22 fastbreak points for the Spartans, while they also had a 33-13 edge in points off turnovers. NSU had 22 assists on its 32 baskets, falling one helper short of tying the D-I record for assists in a game.

In addition to Long and Bridges, junior Batavia Owens and sophomore Rae Corbo also reached double figures in scoring with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Owens also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Sophomore Rachel Gordon chipped in with eight points and seven boards, while junior Recca Trice handed out eight assists.

Delaware State jumped out to an early 7-2 lead as the contest got underway, but a pair of fastbreak layups from Bridges, the  former off some pinpoint passes from Trice and Corbo, got the Spartans to within one, 9-8, a little less than six minutes into play. Gordon's 3-point play following a quick turnover on the Hornets made it 13-9 in favor of NSU at the 13:11 mark.

Junior Marian Brooks converted a layup that put NSU up, 19-11, at 10:48 and capped a 15-2 run for the Spartans, thanks in large part to some high pressure defense and the Spartans continually pushing the ball at an up-tempo pace. Holding a 21-15 lead a short time later, the Spartans broke the game wide open with an 18-0 run. Delaware State had no answer for Owens early on in that run, as the junior reached double digits in scoring at the 7:31 mark with a basket down low.

Brooks made it 34-15 with 4:22 left on the clock in the first half as she completed a 3-point play, and then she added a 10-foot jumper 30 seconds later to push the NSU lead past 20. Long completed the 18-0 run with a trey from the right wing for her 1,000th career point with 3:43 to go in the half. Despite a 7-0 run by the Hornets right after that, NSU took a 41-22 lead into the intermission.

The Spartans held the Hornets scoreless for nearly six minutes during that extended 18-0 run, and Owens and Long combined for 19 points in the first half.

Owens slipped around her defender for the easy two for NSU's first bucket of the second half at 18:03, the only basket for the Spartans in the first five minutes of the second stanza. Sophomore Carlon Chambers ended that drought at the 14:43 mark with a layup from the right side of the hoop, and Bridges hit six free throws in the first eight minutes of the second half, part of her 8-of-9 effort from the free throw line on the day, to help NSU keep the lead above 13 points.

The half plodded along as NSU recorded its 10th team foul at the 11:16 mark, and the Hornets eventually cut the deficit to 11, 60-49, when Bristow got the steal and the immediate layup with 8:09 left to complete a 10-3 run. Bridges hit two more free throws and sank a layup to put NSU back up by 17, 68-51, with a little more than six minutes to go in the game.

Corbo hit a pair of baskets, the latter part of a 3-point play, to get the lead back up to 20, 73-53, two minutes later, and the Spartans went up by as much as 22 points late in the second half to finish out the win.

Long posted a game-high four steals in addition to three assists. Freshman Jazamine Gray had four assists as well for NSU. Thanks to Long's 17 points, the Spartan bench outscored Delaware State's, 30-6.

The Spartans connected on 32-of-53 from the floor for the game, compared to 23-of-51 for the Hornets. The two teams combined for 46 fouls and 56 free throw attempts.

NSU will head south an hour and a half down the road to face UMES Monday at 5:30 p.m.