Norfolk State Women's Basketball

Norfolk State at Florida	Saturday, Feb. 18	4 p.m.	Alfred Lawson Jr. Center
Radio: Hot 91.1 FM WNSB	Live Video		Game Notes

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Norfolk State women's basketball team will make its longest road trip this season when it heads to the Sunshine State. The Spartans will try to solidify their place near the top of the conference standings beginning in Tallahassee, Fla. on Saturday afternoon when they face Florida A&M at the Alfred Lawson Jr. Center. Game time is at 4 p.m.

Scouting NSU: The Spartans have won seven of their last 10 games after their 83-68 victory over South Carolina State on Wednesday night at Echols Hall. With the victory, Norfolk State moved into second place in the MEAC standings, a half game ahead of Hampton. The Spartans also secured their fourth winning season in conference play since moving to Division I with the victory.
    
Kiara Phillips led four Spartans in scoring with 18 points. She added seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Gabrielle Swinson recorded a career-high 17 points, with seven assists, six rebounds and five steals.
    
Kieera Basey also registered a career-high 10 points, while Kayla Roberts notched her 12th double-double of the season, with 10 points and 12 rebounds. She was forced to watch most of the first half after picking up two early fouls. However, she grabbed 11 rebounds and scored all 10 points in the final 20 minutes.
    
Norfolk State leads the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in scoring offense at 63.6 points per game, while the Spartans allow the second-fewest points per contest at 56.6 points. Norfolk State grabs 42.9 rebounds per game, which is the second-most in the MEAC, while blocking the most shots at 6.8 per contest.

Scouting Florida A&M: The Lady Rattlers are 6-6 in MEAC play, but they are 6-4 in their last 10 games. They have dropped two straight on the road, with losses at North Carolina A&T last Saturday and at North Carolina Central on Monday.     
  
Last time out, Florida A&M saw a late lead slip through its fingers when Chantal Thomas hit a go-ahead runner in the paint with 28 seconds left to lead North Carolina Central to a 52-49 victory over the Rattlers on Monday evening at McDougald-McLendon Arena.
    
Ecenur Yurdakul led Florida A&M with 15 points, while Shakerrya Morrison added a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
    
Morrison leads the Rattlers in scoring at eight points a game, while Florence Ouattara is just behind at 7.9 points per game.
    
Florida A&M ranks seventh in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in scoring offense at 57.6 points per game, while also ranking seventh in the conference in scoring defense at 62.4 points allowed per contest. The Rattlers lead the MEAC in rebounding at 44 a game. Morrison leads the team with 9.3 boards per game.

All-Time Series vs. Florida A&M: Florida A&M has won 22 of the 28 meetings between the two programs, including eight of the last 10. However, Norfolk State has defeated the Rattlers twice in the last four meetings.
    
Last Meeting vs. Florida A&M: Kenya Dixon scored 22 points off the Florida A&M bench and hit six of her team's nine 3-pointers as the Lady Rattlers topped Norfolk State 83-67 on Jan. 9, 2016 at Echols Hall.
    
Florida A&M shot 50 percent from the floor while holding Norfolk State to a 38-percent effort. Kayla Roberts led the Spartans with 15 points and 10 rebounds, Siobhan Beslow also had a double-double of 14 points and 11 boards, and Kiara Phillips chipped in with 14 points.
    
The Lady Rattlers never trailed. They hit five field goals in the first quarter, all from behind the arc. Dixon hit a pair as did Olivia Antilla to stake Florida A&M to the early lead.
    
The Lady Rattlers started to pull away in the second quarter, outscoring NSU 24-12. Florida A&M scored the final eight points of the quarter, capped by a layup by Alicia McCray, to carry a 41-24 lead into the half.
    
Despite a 13-0 run, Norfolk State did not get closer than six points in the second half when Yazmen Hannah and Phillips each added a pair of free throws, the latter two cutting the Spartans' deficit to 43-37 with 7:34 left in the third period.

Uncharted Waters: Norfolk State is having one of its best seasons in the Division I era. Below are some of the milestones:
• The Spartans won five non-conference games. The program has not experienced that kind of 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 Norfolk State won more than three non-conference games away from Joseph Echols Hall was during the 2010-11 season.
•  The Spartans have matched their second-best start in 20 MEAC seasons with nine wins through 12 conference games. Norfolk State's best start came during the 1999-2000 campaign, when it began 10-2. The Spartans started conference play with nine wins in 12 tries on two other occasions. They accomplished the feat in the championship season of 2001-02 and 2014-15, which was their last winning season in the conference.
• The 14 wins is the fourth-most in the Division I era and their next win will tie the most wins since the championship season of 2001-02.
• Clinched fourth winning record since in the Division I era.

Moving up the Record Books: Kayla Roberts and Kiara Phillips are moving up the record books. Listed below are some of their records heading into the South Carolina State game:
Roberts:
• She is 60 points away from becoming the 22nd player to join the 1,000 point career club in school history.
• Roberts ranks fourth all-time in blocks (107), 10th in rebounds per game (8.9), 11th in rebounds (723) and 14th all-time in made 3-pointers (50).

Phillips:
• She is 12th in 3-pointers made (56) and 13th all-time in 3-point field-goal attempts (201), while ranking 17th all-time in 3-point field-goal percentage (27.8 percent).