Norfolk State Women's Basketball
NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk State women's basketball will look to remain undefeated in conference play and open conference play 3-0 for the first time since the 2001-02 campaign when it welcomes North Carolina Central to Echols Hall on Saturday afternoon. The Spartans and Eagles are two of the five remaining unbeatens in the MEAC. Tip off is at 4 p.m.
About NSU: The Norfolk State women's basketball team improved to 2-0 in MEAC play for the first time since 2006-07 with a 61-55 win over Savannah State 61-55 on Wednesday evening at Echols Hall.
Senior guard
Dominique Harper tallied 16 points to register her sixth consecutive game in double figures. Senior guard
Jordan Strode added 13 points, while junior guard
Kayla Roberts blocked a career-high five shots to pace NSU.
Norfolk State (7-7, 2-0), which led the MEAC in scoring defense coming in, held the Lady Tigers (2-13, 0-3) to five points in the first quarter on 1-of-13 (7.7 percent) from the floor.
Leading by 11 entering the second quarter, the Spartans gradually stretched their lead. A 10-3 run late in the period, capped by a free throw by Strode, increased NSU's lead to 23, at 36-13, with 1:11 left in the half.
About NCCU: Despite starting the season 1-11, which included losing its final nine non-conference games, the Lady Eagles find themselves tied atop the MEAC standings after victories over Delaware State and Maryland Eastern Shore on back-to-back days. North Carolina Central defeated Delaware State 68-63 on Jan. 10 and followed that up with a 68-59 victory over Maryland Eastern Shore the next evening. This will be the first road game of the conference schedule for the Lady Eagles.
Sophomore guard Rodneysha Martin scored a career-high 25 points in the North Carolina Central win over Maryland Eastern Shore.
Martin went 6-of-9 from the field and 11-of-12 from the free-throw line, including two with two seconds left in the third quarter to put the Lady Eagles up 45-44. The Hawks were able to tie the score for the 12th and last time early in the fourth quarter before a baseline jumper by sophomore Dominique Adams put NCCU ahead for good, 49-47, with 7:34 left.
That hoop by Adams started a decisive 12-0 run that featured scoring by five different Lady Eagles.
All-Time Series vs. North Carolina Central: NSU leads the series with North Carolina Central, 18-7. Norfolk State lost a thriller last season in Durham.
Morgan Jones scored a career-high 25 points and North Carolina Central withstood a last-second 3-pointer by Norfolk State that went awry as the Eagles held off the Spartans 63-62 on Jan. 16, 2016 at McDougald-McLendon Arena.
Jones hit a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left to give the Eagles a 63-60 lead. NSU forward
Siobhan Beslow answered at the other end with a jumper with seven seconds remaining to cut the NCCU lead to one point. Kristin Askew had a chance to push the lead back to three for the Eagles, but she missed both free throws. Beslow rebounded and NSU got the ball ahead to
Kiara Phillips, but she missed a long 3-point attempt from the left wing that would have won the game at the buzzer, keeping NSU winless on the year.
Yazmen Hannah scored 17 points, Beslow had 16 and 12 rebounds, and Phillips tallied 15 points for the Spartans, who led 48-44 entering the final period.
Roberts Earns MEAC Honor: Norfolk State junior forward
Kayla Roberts was named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 2-8, which was her third such honor of the season.
She recorded 10 rebounds, three blocks and one steal in a 56-47 victory at Morgan State on Jan. 4. Offensively, she tallied a team-high 12 points. Seven of her 10 boards came on the defensive glass. Roberts moved into 13th all-time in school history with 617 rebounds and 15th all-time in school history in blocks, with 68 after her performance against the Bears.
Roberts was also named MEAC Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 12-18 and Nov. 28 - Dec. 4.
She recorded 21 rebounds, five steals and two block against William & Mary (Dec. 15) and Lincoln (Pa.) (Dec. 18). Offensively, she averaged 11.0 points and 2.5 assists. Fifteen of her 21 boards came on the defensive glass.
Shooting and Dropping Dimes: Two of Norfolk State's keys to success depend on field-goal percentage and assisting on more buckets than its opponents. The Spartans are 7-0 when they outshoot their opponent. However, they are 0-7 when their opponents shoot a higher percentage from the floor. Norfolk State is 5-2 when it shoots better from the free-throw line and just 2-5 when the opponent shoots a higher percentage. The Spartans are 6-1 when they have more assists, but 0-6 when their opponents have more assists.
Block Party: Norfolk State has blocked 82 shots in the first 14 games and leads the MEAC at 5.9 blocks per game. The next-closest school in the conference is a half a block per game behind. The 82 blocks is the 3rd-highest for a season during the school's Division I era (since 1997-98). NSU is on pace to break the school's single-season D-I mark of 136, which was set during the 2006-07 campaign. The most blocks in a season is 211 during the 1991-92 season.
Roberts Leading the Way: Junior forward
Kayla Roberts has recorded six double-double performances.
• Her six double-doubles are good enough for second in the MEAC.
• She registered three in a row at against Lehigh, Hartford and Longwood in late November.
• Leads the team in blocks (1.6 bpg) and minutes played per game (30.3).
• She is second on the team in scoring (12.1 ppg), rebounding (9.4 rpg), steals (1.6 spg) and third on the team with 2.1 assists per game.
Double-Digit Scoring: Senior guard
Jordan Strode has scored in double figures in nine of the 12
games she has played in, including a career-high 23 points against Longwood on Dec. 3.
• Leads team in scoring (12.3 ppg), assists per game (2.9), free-throws (40) and free-throw attempts (56) and free-throw percentage (71.4 percent).
• She is second on the team in 3-point field goals (12), 3-point field-goal attempts (51) and minutes per game (28.8).
• Her 5.3 rebounds per game ranks third on the team.
Super Sub: Senior guard
Dominique Harper had been the best and most consistent player coming off the bench for the Spartans this season, before being pressed into the starting lineup. 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. Here are some notes on her 2016-17 season to date:
• Averaging 10.5 points and 4.9 rebounds in 27.4 minutes per game.
• She leads the team in field goal percentage at 46.7 percent.
• Her 1.6 steals per game leads the team.
• She is second on the team with 2.2 assists per game.
• Harper ranks third on the team and 19th in the MEAC in points per game, while playing the fourth-most minutes per game on the team. the second-most assists on the team, with 2.2 per game and fourth on the team with 4.9 rebounds per game.
