Norfolk State Women's Basketball
The Norfolk State women's basketball team will look for its second consecutive road wins, when it travels to Farmville, Va. on Saturday. The Spartans are coming off a 63-60 victory over High Point Wednesday night in High Point, N.C. This is the first time Norfolk State has won two non-conference road games in a season since 2010-11.
About NSU: The Norfolk State women's basketball team matched its win total from last season and improved to 3-4 on the young season after holding off host High Point (1-5) 63-60 Wednesday night at Millis Athletic Convocation Center.
Junior forward
Kayla Roberts paced the Spartans with her third straight double-double. She scored 16 points and grabbed a season-high 17 rebounds, while senior guard
Jordan Strode recorded 16 points as well and grabbed six boards. Senior forward
Khalilah Ali was the third Spartan in double figures. She dropped in 10 points and grabbed five rebounds.
About Longwood: The Lancers have lost four of their first five games, including a 76-58 loss in their home opener against West Virginia Tech on Nov. 26. It was their first home non-conference loss since the 2014-15 season. Longwood will have had a week off since the loss before facing Norfollk State.
Kemari Jones and Eboni Gilliam each had double-double performances in the loss. Jones had 11 points to go along with 12 rebounds and Gilliam poured in 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, Gilliam notches her first double-double of the season and second straight game in double figures, finishing 5-of-12 from the floor, 10 rebounds, one assist and one block in 32 minutes of action.
Autumn Childress finished with 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting, while Jada Russell added 14 off the bench for her fourth game in double figures this season to lead Big South rookies in scoring.
All-Time Series vs. Longwood: Norfolk State has a 7-5 record all-time against Longwood. The two programs have not met on the hardwood since Nov. 17, 2006 when the Lancers defeated the Spartans 67-55. The longest winning streak in the series is four, which is held by Norfolk State in the first four meetings.
Last time out, the game was tight through the first 30 minutes. However, Longwood led by one point when Amber Sims made a layup for the Lancers with 10 minutes and 13 seconds left in the game that sparked an 11-0 run, which put Longwood up 61-49 with 4:38 left.
Toia Johnson and Ebony Gibbs led the Spartans with 20 points and 16 points, respectively. Johnson added three rebounds and three steals, while Gibbs added six rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Returning to Longwood: Senior forward
Khalilah Ali, who is a Suffolk, Va. native, will make her return to Longwood as a visitor on Saturday. She played in 74 games during her Lancers career, scoring 344 points with a 41.9 shooting percentage (132-of-315) from the field, while grabbing 326 rebounds and blocking 61 shots. She earned Received bachelor degree in social work from Longwood. Ali is a graduate transfer, pursueing a master's degree in urban education.
Roberts Leading the Way: Junior forward
Kayla Roberts has recorded four double-double performances, including three consecutive games. Her four double-doubles is good enough to be tied for first in the MEAC and seventh most in the country. She leads the Spartans in scoring (13.1 ppg), rebounding (9.9 rpg) and blocks (1.1 bpg). She is second on the team in free-throw percentage (70.6 percent).
Double-Digit Scoring: Senior guard
Jordan Strode has scored in double figures in five-of-six games she has played in. Currently, she is second on the team in scoing at 12.3 points per game. She leads the Spartans in 3-point field-goals made (10), 3-point field-goal percentage (40 percent), free throws made (18) and free throws attempts (28).
Super Sub: Senior guard
Dominique Harper has been the best and most consistant player coming off the bench for the Spartans this season. Prior to this season she had appeared in 73 games for the green and gold and averaged 3.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. However, in just seven games this season she is averaging 9.1 points and 4.6 rebounds in 24.4 minutes per game. She is second on the team in steals per game, with 1.6, third on the team in points per game, third in assists at 2.1 per game, fourth in rebounds and fourth in minutes played per game.
Defense Leading the Way: 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 third in the MEAC in blocked shots, with an average of 5.3 per game. The Spartans have had at least seven in four of their six games, with a season-high of 10 against St. Augustine's.
Kayla Roberts is ninth in the conference, with 1.1 per game.
Khalilah Ali and
Jordan Strode are tied for 10th, with 1.0 per game, while
Alexys Long is averaging 0.9 per game and is ranked 15th in the conference.
• NSU is also fifth in the MEAC in steals, with an average of 8.1 per game. The Spartans have reached double figures in steals in three of their six games, with a high of 13 at UNCW. Guard
Gabrielle Swinson leads the way with 17 steals in the first seven games, ranking fifth in the MEAC with 2.4 per game.
• As a team, the Spartans also rank second in the MEAC in field-goal percentage defense, at 34.9 percent shooting allowed thus far.
