NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State women's basketball team fell to East Carolina 81-61 at Joseph Echols Hall on Tuesday night.

NSU moved to 3-6 on the season while ECU improved to 9-1.

Senior Rachel Gordon led the Spartans with 17 points, connecting on 6-of-9 field goals and 5-of-5 free throws to go along with 7 rebounds. Freshman Logan Powell contributed 13 points and Rae Corbo added 11 points. Corbo also tallied five assists on the night.

The Spartans started out on a 6-3 run after a jumper from Corbo and a pair of buckets from Gordon with 16:25 left in the first half.

ECU answered with 8-2 run on the other end that began with a 3-pointer from Abria Trice. Jada Payne capped the run on a layup with an assist from Kyani White to give the Pirates a 13-8 lead over NSU with 13:10 remaining before halftime.

Freshman Dominique Harper tied the game at 13 on a layup in the pain with 11:45 left in the half. Harper finished the game with seven points, four assists and four rebounds.

Payne knocked down a 3-pointer to spark a 16-5 run for the Pirates. Janesha Ebron also nailed a 3-pointer to give ECU a 29-18 lead over the Spartans with 6:30 left in the half. The Pirates shot 31.0 percent (9-of-29) from 3-point range.

NSU came within eight points, 29-21, with 6:08 on the clock after junior Ebony Brown nailed a 3-pointer.

The Pirates sprinted out on a 27-5 run for the last six minutes of the half and led by as many as 20 points after Kristine Mial drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 55 seconds on the clock to make the score 46-26.

Freshman Koryn Lawrence nailed a jumper with three seconds left to send the Spartans into halftime trailing ECU, 48-30.

The Spartans came out the break on a 17-7 run as Powell knocked down a pair of free throws with 11:34 left in the game, but NSU continued to trail ECU, 58-47. Powell made all three of her free throws on the night.

The Pirates answered with a 17-2 run. Trice scored on a layup with 5:13 to go to give ECU a commanding 75-49 lead. Trice finished the game with 19 points, six rebounds and three steals.

Gordon scored NSU's last field-goal of the game with 1:48 left to play. ECU led NSU, 79-60.

The Spartans shot 40 percent (22-of-55) on the night and shot a season-high 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from beyond the arc. NSU also finished the night shooting 75.0 percent (12-of-16) from the free throw line. The Spartans outrebounded ECU, 34-31.

ECU finished the game shooting 49.2 percent (30-of-61) overall and were 70.6 percent (12-of-17) from the free throw line. The Pirates also outscored NSU in the paint 36-20 and outscored the Spartans off turnovers, 39-11.

NSU will host Virginia-Lynchburg on Friday. Game time is set for 4 p.m. at Joseph Echols Hall.