Game Notes
NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk State women's basketball team will take on Florida A&M on Tuesday afternoon in the opening round of the 2013 MEAC Tournament. Tip-off is at 1:30 p.m. at the Norfolk Scope Arena.
Media Coverage: The game against Florida A&M will be broadcast live on WNSB Hot 91.1 with Ross Gordon on the call. The live audio will be available here. Live stats will be available here. A live stream will also be available here.
Last Time Out: The Norfolk State women's basketball team closed out the regular season with a 62-47 loss to North Carolina A&T on Thursday at Joseph Echols Hall.
The Aggies finished the game shooting 43.4 (23-of-53) percent from the field. JaQuayla Berry had 12 points and six rebounds to lead N.C. A&T. Tracy King tallied 11 points and Ariel Bursey added 10 points.
The Spartans shot only 31.7 (19-of-60) percent on the night. Aivah Parham led NSU's effort with 13 points and five rebounds. Batavia Owens was the only other NSU player to score in double-figures. She posted her second consecutive double-double as she finished the game with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
NSU outrebounded the Aggies, 39-35.
All-Time Series: FAMU leads the series with Norfolk State, 20-4. The Spartans' last victory over FAMU came on March 11, 2005, during the semifinals of the 2005 MEAC Tournament. NSU defeated the Lady Rattlers, 52-47.
About Florida A&M: The Lady Rattlers are coming off of a 72-60 loss to Morgan State on Thursday at Hill Field House in Baltimore, Md. FAMU had four players score in double-figures, including Jasmine Grice, who led the team with 19 points. Kimberly Sparkman tallied 14 points, while Patrice Collie and Jamie Foreman added 11 points each. Foreman also had 14 rebounds.
FAMU shot 44.4 (24-of-54) percent from the field on the night while holding Morgan State to just 42.1 (24-of-57) percent shooting.
Last Time Against Florida A&M: Sophomore Ebony Brown drained a 3-pointer with six seconds left in regulation to send the Norfolk State women's basketball team into overtime with Florida A&M, but the Spartans could not come out with a victory as they fell to the Lady Rattlers, 84-76, on March 4 at Joseph Echols Hall.
FAMU shot 48.3 (29-of-60) percent from the field on the night. Jasmine Grice led all scorers with 42 points to set a season-high MEAC scoring record. Kimberly Sparkman was the only other FAMU player to finish the game in double-figures. She closed out the game with 10 points, four rebounds and four assists.
NSU was held to 41.2 (28-of-68) percent shooting. Brown led NSU with 24 points while Rachel Gordon added 12 points, four rebounds and two steals. Batavia Owens also contributed for the Spartans as she posted her 12th career double-double with 21 points and 19 rebounds. She fell one rebound short of becoming the fourth player ever to have two 20-20 games. Owens also had a career-high five assists.
NSU outrebounded the Lady Rattlers, 40-38, and also outscored them, 28-24, in the paint.
Scoring Leaders: Rachel Gordon leads NSU in scoring averaging 10.6 points per game followed by Aivah Parham, who is averaging 9.4 points per game.
Gordon Named to All-Conference Team: Rachel Gordon earned a spot on the All-MEAC second team as the all-conference teams and postseason awards were announced by the MEAC office on Sunday afternoon.
Gordon led NSU with 10.6 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. She shot 47.6 percent from the field and 71.1 percent from the free throw line. Yomika Corbitt was the last Spartan to earn All-MEAC first or second team honors when she was on the second team during the 2003-04 season.
Gordon ranks 17th in the league in scoring, fourth in field-goal percentage as well as third in rebounds per game. She also ranks third in the conference in offensive rebounds per game (3.5) and second in defensive rebounds per game (6.1).
A native of Woodbridge, Va., Gordon was named MEAC Defensive Player of the Week three times this season.
All awards were voted on by the conference's head women's basketball coaches and sports information directors.
NSU MEAC Tournament History: The 51-41 win over Bethune-Cookman in the opening round of the 2012 MEAC Tournament marked the first win for the Spartans since defeating UMES, 58-54, in the first round of the 2007 MEAC Tournament. Below are the records for NSU against the other MEAC teams in the conference tournament.
NSU vs. Opponent Wins Losses NSU vs. Opponent Wins Losses
Bethune-Cookman 3 1 UMES 3 0
Coppin State 0 1 Morgan State 1 1
Delaware State 0 3 N.C A&T N/A N/A
Florida A&M 2 0 N.C. Central N/A N/A
Hampton 2 4 Savannah State N/A N/A
Howard 0 2 S.C. State 2 1
Stingy Defense: NSU gave up 40 points against Bethune-Cookman on March 2. It marks the fewest NSU has given up in a game in the Division I era and the fewest since giving up 37 points against Elizabeth City State on Jan. 18, 1997.
MEAC, NCAA Leaderboard: As a team NSU currently ranks in the top 5 in five different categories in the MEAC, while NSU players also rank in the top 5 in six different categories, including Rachel Gordon, who ranks third in the league in rebounding at 9.7 boards per game. Gordon also ranks second in offensive rebounding (3.5) and defensive rebounding (6.1), fourth in field-goal percentage (47.6) as well as 54th in the NCAA in rebounding.
Recca Trice is second in the league in assists and is ranked 26th in the nation in assists per game.
NSU ranks first in the league in defensive rebounds (25.6), third in rebounding (40.9), fourth in rebounding margin (+1.2) and offensive rebounds (15.3), and fifth in assists (12.0).
Cracking the top 10: Rachel Gordon's eight rebounds in the game against Coppin State on Jan. 19 moved her into 11th place all-time in the NSU record book for career rebounds. Gordon has 232 rebounds on the season and her 699 career rebounds puts her 12 away from tying Andrea Watts for 10th all-time.
Trice on the Move: Recca Trice's 10 assists in the game against Bethune-Cookman on March 2 moved her into second place all-time in the NSU record book for career assists. Trice has 155 assists on the season and 487 career assists. Lisa Rice Ranks first all-time with 1,067 career assists.
Strong Defense: NSU gave up just 51 or fewer points to five opponents last year, the first time doing so since the 2001-02 season when NSU held six opponents to 51 or fewer points in a game. The Spartans have already done it again four times this year, giving up 40 points against Bethune-Cookman on March 2, and 51 points against Penn on Nov. 9, against Delaware State on Feb. 9 and against UMES on Feb. 11.
Double-Doubling: Batavia Owens had 12 points and 14 rebounds against N.C. A&T to claim her 13th career and third double-double of the season. Owens' 19 rebounds in the game against FAMU moved her into 12th place all-time in the NSU record book for career rebounds.
Quineshia Leonard posted her third double-double of the season as she finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds in the game against B-CU on March 2.
Rachel Gordon tallied her sixth double-double of the season in the game against Delaware State on Feb. 23 as she came away with 11 points and 11 rebounds. This was Gordon's 15th double-double of her career.
Parham Stepping Up: Aivah Parham led NSU in scoring against N.C. A&T on Thursday as she finished the game with 13 points. This was the 11th time this season she posted double-figures. Parham also posted a career-high 34 points and 12 rebounds in the Spartans 81-68 victory over Morgan State on Jan. 21. The game against Morgan State marked her first career double-double.
Winning the Rebounding Battle: NSU outrebounded N.C. A&T, 39-35, on Thursday, with Batavia Owens leading the way with 14 rebounds.
Defensive Minded: Rachel Gordon currently ranks second in the MEAC in rebounding, averaging 9.7 rebounds per game.
