ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Norfolk State women's basketball committed 20 turnovers, which led to 19 Navy points, in its 70-51 loss to the Midshipmen at Alumni Hall on Friday night.
 
Ten of the Spartan's (1-1) turnovers came in the second quarter, where NSU scored just five points and saw Navy (3-0) build a 36-24 halftime lead.
 
Navy shot just 36.6 percent on Friday, including 8-of-27 (29.6 percent) from 3-point range, but Norfolk State yielded 17 offensive rebounds to the Midshipmen, who recorded 14 more shots than the Spartans.
 
Hannah Fenske recorded a game-high 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from deep. Alexys Long (12 points) led the Spartans in scoring for the second-straight game. Kayla Roberts pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
NSU shot 50 percent in the opening period and led 19-18 after the first 10 minutes. Navy scored the first five points of the game, but the Spartans tied the game on a jumper by Khadedra Croker and a three-point play by Roberts.
 
The two teams then traded buckets before the Spartans went on a 7-1 run to take an 18-14 lead with 1:06 left in the period. Armani Franklin started the run by knocking down a pair of free throws and finished the quarter with five points.
 
Navy's first basket of the second quarter, a layup by Sophie Gatzounas put the Midshipmen ahead 20-19, and Navy would never trail again. Following another Gatzouna field goal, Croker hit a jumper at the 7:45 mark, which proved to be the Spartan's last field goal for 7:30. The Mids went on an 11-0 run to break the game open at 33-21 as the Spartans missed four shots and turned the ball over eight times during the prolonged drought. Alexis Sparkman stopped Navy's run with a 3-pointer with 25 seconds remaining in the half.
 
At the intermission, Norfolk State was out-shooting the Midshipmen 40.9 to 33.3 percent, but the Spartans were minus-12 in turnover margin. Of Navy's 36 first-half points, 17 came off NSU turnovers.
 
The Spartans took care of the ball in the third quarter but could not slow down the Midshipmen, who shot 50 percent from the field in the period and stretched their lead to 57-39.
 
NSU committed just three turnovers in the third quarter but shot only 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from the floor in the period, including a 1-of-6 mark from deep.
 
Jasmine Bishop's layup put the Mids ahead 48-30 with 5:12 left in the third, but the Spartans scored the next six points to pull to within 12 points with 3:33 left in the period. Less than 90 seconds later, Long hit a trey to once again bring NSU to within 12 points, but Navy scored the last six points of the quarter.
 
Norfolk State could not make a deep cut into the deficit in the fourth quarter as Navy's lead never dipped below 15 points. Raven Russell made it a 15-point game at 62-47 with 4:37 remaining in the game. Russell finished the night with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and three rebounds.
 
Croker scored six points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots in her second game as a Spartan.
 
Taylor Dunham led all players with seven assists. Franklin's three assists paced the Spartans.
 
Norfolk State returns to the hardwood on Tuesday morning for its home opener against Loyola (Md.) on Future Leaders Day. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m.