BOCA RATON, Fla. – Kayla Robert's 20-point outing was not enough for Norfolk State women's basketball as the Spartans (1-3) fell to Bowling Green 59-50 on day one of the FAU Thanksgiving Tournament on Friday afternoon.

Roberts becomes the first Spartan to reach 20 points during the 2017-18 season. The Miami, Florida native now has 11 career games of 20 or more points. The senior guard/forward also chipped in eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks.
 
Carly Santoro led the Falcons (4-1) with 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting. Santoro also grabbed 10 rebounds and assisted on two baskets.
 
The Spartans out-shot Bowling Green at all three levels but committed a season-high 24 turnovers on Friday, which led to 24 points for the Falcons. BGSU also scored 14 second-chance points on 13 offensive rebounds.

NSU trailed 15-12 after the first period despite a hot start by Roberts, who scored the first eight points for the Spartans. Roberts made her first four shots of the game, capped by a layup at the 5:14 mark that drew Norfolk State to within two points at 12-10.

Bowling Green countered with a balanced attack in the first quarter as five Falcons scored points in the period. Jane Uecker erased an early Spartan lead with a jumper at 6:42. The basket put BGSU up 7-6, and the Falcons would not surrender the lead until the 4:06 mark of the third quarter. In all, Bowling Green led for 38 minutes and 25 seconds of the game.
 
The Falcon lead fluctuated between two and eight points in the second quarter, and Bowling Green scored the final five points of the half to take a 30-22 lead into the break.

Raven Russell made the score 25-22 with a layup at the 2:03 mark, but the Spartans would not score again in the period.

Russell ended the game with 13 points, which was second for the team, on 5-of-7 shooting. The junior guard made two of her four attempts from deep and is currently shooting 46.7 percent from beyond the 3-point arc this season.
 
The Spartans shot 52.9 percent in the third quarter and briefly regained the lead before falling behind 48-43 at the end of the period.

NSU went on a 10-4 run during the quarter and led 39-38 with 4:06 remaining on the strength of a Russell trey. Bowling Green then went on a 10-4 run of their own to close out the quarter.

The Falcon's lead never dipped below five points in the final quarter. The two teams traded layups to start the period, but Armani Franklin's basket at the 7:26 mark would be Norfolk State's only field goal for a span of 5:11 seconds. Alexys Long broke that drought with 2:05 remaining and also scored NSU's final points of the game on a 3-pointer with 52 seconds left in the game.

The trey was just the fourth of the game for the Spartans, who finished the game shooting 4-of-15 from beyond the arc. Bowling Green made six shots from deep but needed 26 attempts to do so.

Bowling Green plays Florida Atlantic at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow. FAU defeated St. Francis Brooklyn 80-60 on Friday.

The Spartans return to the court tomorrow at 12 p.m. against St. Francis Brooklyn.