Battle of the Bay
NORFOLK, Va. - Battle of the Bay Round 1. The Norfolk State women's basketball will look to remain undefeated in conference play and open conference play 5-0 for the first time ever when it hosts Hampton at Echols Hall on Saturday evening. Tip off is at 4 p.m.
Scouting NSU: Junior forward
Kayla Roberts scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while senior forward
Khalilah Ali added 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Norfolk State women's basketball team to an 82-74 victory at Delaware State on Jan. 16.
Ali set a new career high in scoring for the second straight game for the Spartans (9-7, 4-0 MEAC), who matched their best-ever MEAC start Monday. Their only other time starting 4-0 came in their MEAC championship season of 2001-02. With its fourth MEAC win, NSU also surpassed last season's total of three.
Guards
Jordan Strode and
Dominique Harper joined Ali and Roberts in double-digit scoring, with 13 points apiece. Guard
Kiara Phillips dished out a career-high eight assists while adding eight points and seven rebounds.
Scouting Hampton: Hampton extended its winning streak to five behind a swarming defense that forced North Carolina Central into 36 turnovers and 24.1 percent field goal shooting. The Lady Pirates defeated the visiting Eagles 60-36 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference matchup on Monday afternoon.
Hampton (10-7, 4-0) opened by forcing five Eagle turnovers in the first 3:30 and used a 3-pointer from Adria Strothers to lead 6-2 at the 6:31 mark of the first. After a jumper from Morgan Jones to bring the Eagles to 10-6 with 4:54 left in the first, Hampton went on a 10-3 run to close the quarter as a Dejane' James free throw gave Hampton a 20-9 lead after one quarter.
In the second, Hampton went on a 10-2 run over nearly a three-minute span to lead 34-13 on a pair of Ashley Bates free throws with 4:33 left.
All-Time Series vs. Hampton: This will be the 93rd all-time meeting between the two schools. Norfolk State is 37-55 against the Lady Pirates, but the teams have protected home court each of the last two seasons. Hampton's last win at Echols was on Feb. 15, 2014, by a 93-59 score.
The last meeting was a 71-66 Spartans victory on Mar. 3, 2016, over the first place Lady Pirates on senior night at Echols Hall. Ironically, the last two seasons, Norfolk State has defeated Hampton by the identical scores in consecutive games at Echols Hall.
Kayla Roberts had 16 points and a season-high 16 rebounds,
Siobhan Beslow added 16 points, eight rebounds and five blocks, and
Koryn Lawrence and
Yazmen Hannah scored 12 points each for NSU.
The Spartans also played strong defense throughout. Hampton guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas, the MEAC's leading scorer, had 29 points, but shot just 11-of-30 from the floor.
Fast MEAC Starts: Entering its 20th Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference season, Norfolk State has never begun MEAC play 5-0. The Spartans have only started 4-0 in the MEAC once previously, during the 2001-02 season when they won the conference championship. Norfolk State began 4-1 in the MEAC in 1999-2000, 2001-02 and 2013-14.
Starting Blocks: Norfolk State was forced to make a lineup change at the end of its non-conference schedule.
Dominique Harper was inserted into the starting lineup for the Jan. 4 game against Morgan State. Her insertion into the starting role, with
Khalilah Ali,
Kiara Phillips,
Kayla Roberts and
Jordan Strode has brought consistency to the rotation and the team has thrived. Below are some of the teams improvements:
• Scoring has increased from 62.2 points to 67.5 points per game, while the opponents has decreased from 57.9 points to 54.0 points per game.
• The shooting has improved from 37.5 percent to 41.9 percent and from behind the arc the Spartans are shooting nearly 28 percent, which is up from just over 25 percent.
• Norfolk State has increased its blocks per game from 5.4 to 8.5 per game.
• As a team, the Spartans are dishing out more assists, which has risen from 16.1 to 17.75 per game.
Dropping Dimes: Kiara Phillips has handed out 13 assists in the last two games, including a career-high eight assists at Delaware State on Jan. 16. She had dished out 60 assists in 34 games, with a high of five on two separate occasions prior game to the game against North Carolina Central, which she matched her previous high.
Ali Dominates: Khalilah Ali had a career night against the Lady Eagles on Jan. 14 at Echols Hall. She registered career highs in points (19), field goals made (9), field goal attempts (15), blocks (9). Ali matched her career-high assists (2). She followed that performance up with a new career-high 20 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks and one steal at Delaware State on Jan. 16.
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 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 blocks 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 Sharing the Rock: Two of Norfolk State's keys to success depend on field-goal percentage and assisting on more buckets than its opponents. The Spartans are 8-0 when they outshoot their opponent. However, they are 1-7 when their opponents shoot a higher percentage from the floor. Norfolk State is 6-2 when it shoots better from the free-throw line and just 2-5 when the opponent shoots a higher percentage. They are 1-1 when the two teams are even at the charity stripe. The Spartans are 8-1 when they have more assists, but 0-6 when their opponents have more assists.
Block Party: Norfolk State has blocked 99 shots in the first 16 games, including 34 in the last four games and leads the MEAC at 6.2 blocks per game. The 99 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.
