Norfolk State Women's Basketball

Norfolk State at Morgan State	Wednesday, Jan. 4	5 p.m.	Hill Field House
Radio: Hot 91.1 FM WNSB	Live Stats	Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk State women's basketball team will begin 2017 in the same city it ended 2016, when it travels to Baltimore, Md. The Spartans will take on Morgan State in the conference opener for both teams on Jan. 4.

About Norfolk State: The Norfolk State women's basketball team fell to 5-7 after suffering a 61-58 loss to Towson on Dec. 29 at the SECU Arena. Freshman forward De'Janaire Deas' 3-pointer from the left corner was no good just as the horn sounded, securing the comeback victory for the Tigers (7-4).
    
Senior guard Kiara Phillips led the Spartans with 15 points. She nailed two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as the Spartans tried to hold off Towson.

Norfolk State has dropped three of its last five games, including its last two by a combined 10 points. The Spartans had leads of seven points (UNC Greensboro) and 10 points (Towson), before allowing late leads to slip away.
    
Kayla Roberts (12.8 points) and Jordan Strode (12.5 points) are the only Spartans to average double-digits per game, while Dominique Harper is just under 10 points a game at 9.9.

About Morgan State: Morgan State lost its fifth game in a row after a 68-51 loss at home against Brown on Dec. 31. Brown led 29-20 at the half and never looked back, holding the Bears to 25.7 percent shooting from the floor.
    
Braennan Farrar and Zuri White tallied 12 points each for the Bears. The team's second leading scorer, Tykyrah Williams, was held to just three points on 1-of-10 from the floor.
    
Farrar leads MSU in scoring, at 14.1 points per game, while Williams adds 9.8 points and 5.4 rebounds.
    
Morgan State was picked to finish fifth in the MEAC preseason poll. The Bears registered a 79-28 victory over Washington Adventist in the second game of the season on Nov. 15. Their second victory came on Dec. 7, at the University of Maryland Baltimore County by a score of 69-61.
 
All-Time Series vs. Morgan State: NSU leads the series with Morgan State, 20-15. Norfolk State was swept in the two games last season, after winning four straight against the Bears the two prior seasons.
    
The Spartans last win against Morgan State came on Feb. 14, 2015, a 64-56 win in Baltimore.
    
Trailing by 14 in the fourth quarter, the Spartans mounted a 17-3 run to tie the ballgame with 56 seconds left in the game. Daniels and Koryn Lawrence combined to score all but two points in the run. Daniels buried a 3-pointer from the right wing to cut NSU's deficit to three, than less than a minute later, she converted a traditional three-point play to tie the score at 54-all with 56 seconds left.
    
However, Lexus Spears, who had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds, made the go-ahead layup with 48 seconds left as visiting Morgan State outlasted Norfolk State 59-56 on Feb. 13, 2016.

MEAC Openers: Norfolk State is 5-15 in conference openers. The last time the Spartans opened their conference schedule with a victory was on Dec. 6, 2014, when they defeated Morgan State 68-63, at Joe Echols Hall. However, Norfolk State is 7-13 in its first conference game of the season. The last time the Spartans were victorious in their road opener, was on Jan. 10, 2015, when they defeated Florida A&M 68-50 in Tallahassee, Fla.

Fourth Quarter Struggles: Norfolk State led the last two games heading into the fourth quarter, however the Spartans were unable to hold onto the victory. They led by seven heading into the final stanza at UNC Greensboro on Dec. 21. The Spartans of UNCG outscored Norfolk State 24-10 in the quarter to win 59-52. Once again, Norfolk State was unable to close out its opponent when it allowed Towson to turn a six-point deficit after three quarters into a 61-58 victory. However, this time the Spartans increased their lead to 10, at 49-39 with 7:47 left in the game. Towson outscored Norfolk State 22-9 down the stretch.

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 Dec. 12-18. This is her second such honor of the season.
    
She recorded 21 rebounds, five steals and two block against William & Mary and Lincoln (Pa.). Offensively, she averaged 11.0 points and 2.5 assists. Fifteen of her 21 boards came on the defensive glass. Roberts moved into 17th all-time in school history with her two blocks against William & Mary. She tallied three steals against Lincoln as the Spartans defense allowed just 28 points, which is the fifth-fewest surrendered in school history and the fewest allowed in the Division I era.

Uncharted Waters: The Spartans won five non-conference games. The program has not experienced the early-season success since the 2011-12 season. That season Norfolk State won four of its first five games to open the season and tallied five non-conference wins. The last time a Spartans team won more than three non-conference games away from Joseph Echols Hall was during the 2010-11 season.

Roberts Leading the Way: Junior forward Kayla Roberts has recorded five double-double performances.
• Her five 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 scoring (12.8 ppg), rebounding (9.3 rpg), blocks (1.2 bpg).
• She is second on the team in minutes per game (29.8) and third on the team with 2.2 assists per game.

Double-Digit Scoring: Senior guard Jordan Strode has scored in double figures in seven of the 10 games she has played in, including a career-high 23 points against Longwood.

• Leads team in free-throws (36) and free-throw attempts (49).
• She is second on the team in scoring (12.5 ppg), assists (2.8 apg), 3-point field goals (11), and 3-point field-goal attempts (43).
• Her 5.3 rebounds per game ranks third on the team.

Super Sub: Senior guard Dominique Harper has been the best and most consistent 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. Here are some notes on her 2016-17 season to date:

• Averaging 9.7 points and 4.8 rebounds in 26.6 minutes per game.
• She leads the team in field goal percentage at 46.6 percent.
• Her 1.7 steals per game leads the team.
• Harper ranks third on the team and 21st in the MEAC in points per game, while playing the third most minutes per game on the team and having the third most assists on the team, with 2.0 per game.
• She is fourth on the team with 4.8 rebounds 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.

•    The Spartans allow 57.9 points per game which is the fewest allowed per game in the conference.
•    NSU leads the MEAC in blocked shots, with an average of 5.4 per game. The Spartans have had at least one block in each game and at least seven blocks in six games, with a season-high of 12 against Lincoln.
•    Kayla Roberts is seventh in the conference, with 1.2 blocks per game. Khalilah Ali is eighth, with 1.0 per game. Jordan Strode ranks 13th, with 0.8 per game.
•    NSU is also fifth in the MEAC in steals, with an average of 8.8 per game. The Spartans have reached double figures in steals in seven of their 12 games, including the last three games. They set a season-high 13 at UNCW. Dominique Harper and Kayla Roberts are tied for the team lead with 20 steals, ranking 11th in the MEAC with 1.7 per game.
•    As a team, the Spartans also lead the MEAC in field-goal percentage defense, at 34.7 percent shooting allowed thus far.