Norfolk State Women's Basketball - Senior Night/College & Career Night
NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk State women's basketball team will look to bounce back from its first two-game losing streak in two months when it hosts Howard at 4 p.m. on Saturday. This is a key matchup in the final week of the regular season as both teams are jockeying for seeding in the upcoming Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament. Howard enters the game in the No. 2 spot, while the Spartans cling to a slim lead in the No. 3 spot. The winner of this matchup will be in a great position to finish in the top three spots in the regular season standings, earning a first-round bye in the tournament, while the loser will need to win their remaining game(s) and possibly need some help.
Scouting NSU: The Spartans struggled in a 53-44 loss at Bethune-Cookman on Monday evening. Norfolk State fell to third place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference standings, a half game behind Howard and a half game ahead of Hampton, with two games remaining for the Spartans. The Spartans have already secured their fourth winning season in conference play since moving to Division I with the victory.
Gabrielle Swinson led the Spartans in scoring with 16 points and a game-high four steals, while
Dominique Harper added 11 points for the second-consecutive game. Norfolk State shot below 30 percent from the field for the second straight game, going 16-of-69 (27.5 percent).
Norfolk State ranks second in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in scoring offense at 62.4 points per game, while the Spartans allow the second-fewest points per contest at 56.5 points. They have the highest shooting percentage at 38.3 percent, and the second-best field-goal defense in the conference at 32.6 percent.
Norfolk State grabs 42.9 rebounds per game, which is the second-most in the MEAC, while blocking the most shots at 6.4 per contest. The Spartans hand out the most assists per game at 14.1 and have the third-fewest turnovers per game at 16.0.
Scouting Howard: The Bison are 9-4 in MEAC play, including 6-4 in their last 10 games and two straight victories. Howard is in second place in the conference standings.
Last time out, Howard had three players in double figures to complete the season sweep of North Carolina Central, with a 62-48 victory on Feb. 20. Erin Blaine poured in a team-high 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Te'Shya Heslip added 14 points, six assists and five boards. Sydni Johnson netted 10 points and Jayla Myles led the Bison with 13 rebounds.
Howard leads the MEAC in scoring at 63.6 points per game, while it ranks 11 in points allowed at 66.0 points per game. The Bison shoots the third-highest percentage from the floor at 37.5 percent, while allowing their opponents to shoot 38.4 percent which ranks seventh in the conference.
Howard grabs 40.5 rebounds per game while allowing 41.4 boards per game.
All-Time Series vs. Howard: The two programs have met 45 times on the hardwood, with each Howard holding a 31-14 advantage. Both teams won on the other's home court last season, with Norfolk State earning its first victory of the season in a thrilling 110-108 overtime affair on Feb. 6. Howard returned the favor and won another tightly contested matchup, 64-63 at Echols Hall on Feb. 29.
Last Meeting vs. Howard: Victoria Gonzales hit two free throws with 0.5 seconds left, and officials ruled that
Kayla Roberts' off-balanced 3-pointer at the buzzer was not released in time, giving Howard a 64-63 win over Norfolk State on Feb. 29, 2016 at Echols Hall.
Gonzales led all players with 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Bison.
Norfolk State trailed 62-57 in a see-saw affair with 1:38 remaining. But
Koryn Lawrence made a layup and
Siobhan Beslow made two free throws to bring NSU within 62-61. The Spartans forced a tie-up, giving them the ball. Gonzales slammed the ball to the floor following the jump-ball, resulting in a technical foul. Beslow then sank two free throws with 42.3 seconds remaining to give the Spartans a 63-62 lead.
Gonzales would miss a go-ahead jumper, but officials whistled Norfolk State for a foul on the shot with 0.5 seconds left. Gonzales made both free throws for a one-point edge.
Norfolk State called timeout to advance the ball to half-court.
Kiara Phillips inbounded to Roberts, who appeared to make a leaning bank shot from 3-point range as the buzzer sounded. Officials originally ruled the shot good, but after a courtside review of the play showed that the shot did not leave Roberts' hand in time, giving the Bison the win.
Block Party: Norfolk State has blocked 166 shots, including 101 in conference play and leads the MEAC at 6.4 blocks per game. The 166 blocks is the most in the school's Division I era (since 1997-98) and is the second-most in a season in the program's history. The most blocks in a season is 211 during the 1991-92 season. Nationally, the Spartans' 6.4 blocks per game ranks as the third-most in Division I, while the 166 blocks is the fifth-highest total this season.
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 13-1 when they outshoot their opponent. However, they are 1-11 when their opponents shoot a higher percentage from the floor. Norfolk State is 9-3 when it shoots a better percentage from the free-throw line and just 4-7 when the opponent shoots a higher percentage. The Spartans are 1-2 when the two teams are even at the charity stripe. The Spartans are 13-2 when they have more assists, but 1-9 when their opponents have more assists and 0-1 when both teams register the same amount of assists.
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.
• As a team, Norfolk State ranks second in the MEAC in field-goal percentage defense, at 32.6 percent shooting allowed, which is the second-best in the country.
• The Spartans allow 56.5 points per game, which is the second-fewest allowed per game in the conference and the 25th fewest allowed in the country.
• Norfolk State has allowed one opponent to score more than 70 points in any game this season.
• In 14 wins, the Spartans are allowing just 52.7 points per game, as opposed to 61.0 in their 12 losses.
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 Howard:
Roberts:
• She is 43 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 (108), 10th in rebounds per game (9.0), 11th in rebounds (743) and 14th all-time in made 3-pointers (52).
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).
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.
• 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.
• The 11-game win improvement is the largest from one season to the next in the history of the program.
• Clinched fourth winning record since in the Division I era.
