NSU Women's Basketball 

NSU at Lehigh	Sat., Nov. 26  4 p.m.	Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/Lehigh/wbb/
Christmas City Classic	Stabler Arena	Live Video: www.PatriotLeague.TV

NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk State women's basketball team will try to snap a two-game losing streak when it travels to Bethlehem, Pa. on Saturday. Ths Spartans will open up the Christmas City Classic against the tournament host Lehigh, which is 4-1 on the season.

About NSU: The Norfolk State (1-3) women's basketball team lost to George Mason 60-33, Monday night at the EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va. For the first time this season, the Spartans had just one player in double figures in scoring. Senior Dominique Harper led NSU with 14 points on 7-of-14 shooting. The rest of the team shot just 17 percent.
        
About Lehigh: Lehigh pulled away from Mount Saint Mary's to win 74-57 on Tuesday to improve to 4-1. Despite the final score, the Mount kept the game close through the first three quarters. The Mountain Hawks outscored Mount Saint Mary's 24-11 in the final frame.

Quinci Mann and Hannah Hedstrom led Lehigh in scoring. Mann tallied a game-high 23 points, while Hedstrom recorded 14 points. Hedstrom and Gena Grundhoffer notched three steals apiece as the Mountain Hawks tallied 13 steals as a team. On the boards Lehigh outrebound the Mount 42-37.

All-Time Series vs. Lehigh: This will be the first meeting between the two programs.

About Hartford: The University of Hartford women's basketball team (3-2) dropped a 77-65 decision to visiting Providence on Tuesday night at Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion. Senior Deanna Mayza scored a game-best 18 points for the Hawks, who were unable to recover from the Friars' hot shooting in the third quarter.

The Hawks trailed Providence 35-31 after the first half, despite shooting a season-best 46.7 percent from the field (14-of-30). Mayza's 18 points marked the fifth straight game the senior guard has registered double figures. She knocked down 7-of-15 shots and added four assists. Lindsey Abed  added eight points and three steals, matched her career high in assists with six.

All-Time Series vs. Hartford: The two programs have never met on the hardwood.

About Monmouth: Prior to the Christmas City Classic, Monmouth (1-2) had a week off since a loss against Clemson on Friday, Nov. 19. Despite outscoring Clemson in the second, third and fourth quarters, Monmouth University's women's basketball team was defeated 60-47. The Tigers led 23-5 at the end of the first quarter and sustained that lead until the very end.

Monmouth senior Tyese Purvis has scored in double-figures in all three games this season, scoring 15 at Robert Morris, 14 at St. Francis Brooklyn, and 19 versus Clemson. Purvis' nine three-pointers this year gives her 76 for her career. The senior needs six more threes to move into 11th in program history.

All-Time Series vs. Monmouth: Norfolk State is 0-3 all-time against Monmouth. The last time the two teams faced each other, Monmouth hit its free throws late in the second half to give the host Hawks a 69-62 win over the Norfolk State women's basketball team in the Hawk Holiday Classic Thursday afternoon at the Mulipurpose Activity Center.

The Spartans used a couple of late runs to cut into Hawk deficits as the second stanza ticked down. NSU, though, could not get over the hump as the Hawks hit 7-of-8 free throws in the last minute of play to ice the win.
    
NSU never held the lead in the second half, but the Spartans never led the Hawks get up by more than nine points throughout the game.
    
The Spartans only connected on 1-of-11 from long range (9.1 percent), and 13-of-23 from the free throw line (56.5 percent) for what was essentially the difference in the game.
    
Junior Batavia Owens tallied a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds, while sophomore Rae Corbo was the only other Spartan in double figures with 10 points. Recca Trice had game highs of six assists and four steals.
    
Monmouth hit 24-of-30 from the free throw line, including 14-of-16 in the second half, and was 3-of-14 from beyond the arc. The two teams shot nearly identical from the floor, as the Spartans connected on 24-of-65 (36.9 percent), compared to 21-of-57 (36.8 percent) for the Hawks.

Player Conference Rankings:
• Khalilah Ali - fifth in rebounding, sixth in blocks, eigth in defensive rebounds, 10th in offensive rebounds
• Kieera Basey - 15th in assists
• Dominique Harper - fifth in field-goal percentage, 15th in assists, 17th in scoring
• Jordan Strode - sixth in 3-point field goal percentage, sixth in 3-point field goals made, eighth in blocks, eighth in defensive rebounds, ninth in scoring, 12th in free-throw percentage, 15th in assists, 16th in rebounding
• Kayla Roberts - seventh in offensive rebounds, 14th in rebounding, 15th in assists and 22nd in scoring
• Gabrielle Swinson - fourth in steals, seventh in assist/TO ratio, seventh in field-goal percentage, eighth in assists and 30th in scoring
• Shayla Tanner - eighth in blocks, 10th in offensive rebounds, 16th in Rebounding

Dominant Defense: Head coach Larry Vickers has put an emphasis on an aggressive style of defense this season and the early returns have been promising.
•    NSU is first in the MEAC in blocked shots, with an average of 6.8 per game. The Spartans have had at least seven in three of their four games, with a season-high of 10 against St. Augustine's. Khalilah Ali (sixth, 1.5), Jordan Strode (tied for eighth, 1.3) and Shayla Tanner (tied for eighth, 1.3) all average more than one block per game and rank among the MEAC's top 10 in that category.
•    NSU is also third in the MEAC in steals, with an average of 10.5 per game. The Spartans have reached double figures in steals in three of their four games, with a high of 13 at UNCW. Guard Gabrielle Swinson leads the way with 12 steals in the first four games, ranking fourth in the MEAC with 3.0 per game.
•    As a team, the Spartans also rank fourth in the MEAC in field-goal percentage defense, at 36.8 percent shooting allowed thus far.