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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Norfolk State women's basketball team saw its season come to a close against cross-bay rival Hampton, as the Pirates downed the Spartans, 61-40, Wednesday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the 2012 MEAC tournament at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

NSU finished out the 2011-12 campaign at 12-17 overall, while Hampton improved to 24-4 and advanced to the semifinal round Friday. The Spartans were led by one of their only two seniors, Tyisha Bridges, who tallied a team-high 12 points on the afternoon on 5-of-10 shooting.

Despite the setback, NSU's game plan was on target early on, as the Spartans jumped out to a 12-2 lead to start the game. Hampton made just one of its first nine shots in the contest and shot just 31.1 percent overall on the game on 19-of-61 shooting. Sophomore Rachel Gordon capped the early run with a pair of buckets and also sank both free throw attempts for six of NSU's first 12 points in the game.

Hampton, though, countered with an 18-2 run to go up by six, 20-14, before sophomore Rae Corbo hit a short baseline jumper to end the Spartan drought at the 5:40 mark. Freshman Quineshia Leonard added a layup two minutes later to cut the deficit to two, 20-18, but Hampton scored the last five points of the half to take a 25-18 lead into the intermission.

Hampton never looked back in the second half, getting the lead up to as much as 26 before the final 21-point margin. The Pirates were led by senior Jericka Jenkins, who scored a game-high 20 points on 6-of-19 shooting. She had 15 points for the Pirates in the first half on 4-of-10 shooting, while the rest of the team shot just 4-of-19 in that first stanza.

In addition to Bridges, the game also marked the last collegiate contest for senior Whitney Long. She ended her career 14th all-time at NSU in scoring with 1,130 points. She also finished third in 3-point field goals (142) and 3-point field goal attempts (426), fourth in 3-point field goal percentage (.333) and free throw percentage (.753), 14th in field goal attempts (1,152), 16th in games played (109), 17th in field goals (427) and 18th in steals (183).

Bridges, meanwhile, ended her career with 612 points, an average of 5.6 per game over her four-year career. She finished 15th in NSU career annals in games played (110) and also posted 264 rebounds, 120 assists, 104 steals and 16 blocks during her time at NSU.

Against Hampton, Bridges was the only player in double figures for the Spartans, who scored its fewest points in a game since a 70-33 loss to Samford on Nov. 28, 2009. Gordon was the only other player to score more than five, as she posted eight points with a game-high nine rebounds. Gordon finished the season as the school's all-time Division I rebounder with 10.4 boards a game, a mark that also led the MEAC.

Keiara Avant and Alyssa Bennett added 13 and 12 points, respectively, and grabbed seven rebounds each as Hampton held the edge on the boards, 44-40. The Pirates had a 16-9 advantage in second-chance points thanks to a 17-10 edge in offensive boards.

The Spartans outscored the Pirates in the paint, 26-22, but failed to hit a 3-pointer for the second straight game. NSU finished 0-of-8 from beyond the arc, while Hampton hit 6-of-21 from 3-point land.

NSU shot 17-of-52 overall for the game (32.7 percent).