Saturday
The Game: Hampton at NSU, 4 p.m., Joseph Echols Hall
Radio: WNSB Hot 91.1 FM; HSRN - Sirius Satellite Radio channel 137
Live Audio (WNSB) | Live Stats | Live Audio/Video | Game Notes
NORFOLK, Va. - Returning to Echols Hall after a difficult loss at UMES, the Norfolk State women's basketball team will face rival Hampton Saturday at 4 p.m. for the completion of the home-and-home Battle of the Bay series.
Hampton leads the all-time series, 47-35, and has won the last 11 meetings between the two teams, dating back to NSU's last win, 70-66, on Dec. 2, 2006.
Media Coverage: The game can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1 FM, with Joe Cook and Ross Gordon on the call. In addition, the game will also be broadcast by the Heritage Sports Radio Network on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 137. Live stats and a live video feed will be available for the game, and the video feed will carry the Hot 91.1 broadcast as well.
Last Time Out: NSU held a 15-point lead with 10 minutes left in the game, but the Spartans went cold from there, allowing UMES to go on a 17-2 run to close out regulation and eventually take a 62-58 win over the Spartans in overtime. NSU scored just two points in the last 10 minutes of the second half, as the Hawks avenged a last-second loss to NSU in January.
Whitney Long and Tyisha Bridges each tallied 12 points to lead the Spartans, while Recca Trice and Rachel Gordon each posted nine points, with Gordon grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds. Trice also added seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. UMES had a 57-37 edge on the boards but shot just 31.0 percent from the floor compared to a 41.1 percent clip for NSU.
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 against Delaware State. She has reached double digits in scoring in 17 of 22 games this season, and at her current pace she could finish as high as 14th all-time in scoring at NSU by the end of the season. She currently ranks 18th in career scoring and needs five more points to jump two spots to 16th.
Defensive Minded: Rachel Gordon has tallied double-digit efforts in rebounds in 14 of the team's 22 games this year. Dating back to last season, Gordon has posted 10 or more rebounds in 17 of the last 27 games. Gordon ranked 20th in the nation in rebounding heading into the week.
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, 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.
Bridges Steps Up: Getting her first two starts of the season last weekend, Tyisha Bridges made the most of it, tying her career high with 18 points at Delaware State Feb. 4 and adding 12 points at UMES on Feb. 6 for her first double-digit scoring efforts of the season. She shot a combined 9-of-24 from the floor and 12-of-13 from the free throw line with nine rebounds.
On Fire: NSU hit 60.4 percent from the floor for the game against Delaware State on Feb. 4 on 32-of-53 shooting, easily the best shooting percentage by a Spartan team in the D-I era. The previous record had stood at 56.6 percent, achieved at Texas Southern to start the season.
Winning the Rebounding Battle: NSU outrebounded its first six opponents of the season and has held the edge in 13 games overall. So far this year, the Spartans are outrebounding their opponents by 1.8 boards per game, a +3.3 difference from a season ago.
Cracking the top 10: Recca Trice moved into eighth place all-time in the NSU record book for career assists during the contest at Hampton, and her 303 career helpers now puts her seven away from tying LaMonica Filer for seventh all time. In addition, Whitney Long now sits alone in third place all-time in career treys as well.
MEAC, NCAA Leaderboard: As a team NSU ranks in the top 5 in 11 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. In addition, Batavia Owens leads all MEAC players with a 56.0 field goal percentage.
Heading into the week, Gordon ranked 20th in the nation in rebounding. As a team, NSU is ranked better nationally than last year in all categories except field goal percentage, scoring defense, 3-point field goal defense and 3-point field goals per game.
What's the Opposite of a Sophomore Slump?: Rachel Gordon has tallied 8.9 points and 10.3 rebounds per game this year. Her production is up 3.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game from last year. Rae Corbo, meanwhile, has upped her scoring average by 2.1 points per game.
Owning the Paint: NSU has dominated the inside scoring, averaging 8.1 more points in the paint per game, including a 62-24 edge at Delaware State.
Up Next: NSU will welcome Delaware State to Echols Hall Feb. 18 at 4 p.m. for Senior Day.
