Norfolk State Women's Basketball

Norfolk State	Saturday, Feb. 11	4 p.m.	Echols Hall
Radio: Hot 91.1 FM WNSB	Live Video	Live Stats	Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk State women's basketball team (12-10, 7-3) will look to get back in the win column when it hosts Maryland Eastern Shore in the only regular season matchup between the teams, Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Echols Hall

Scouting NSU: The Spartans have won seven of their last 10 games and have matched their second-best start in 20 MEAC seasons with seven wins through the first 10 conference games. Norfolk State's best start came during the 1999-2000 campaign, when it began 8-2. The Spartans started conference play with seven wins in 10 tries on two other occassions. They accomplished the feat in the championship season of 2001-02, as well as the 2014-15 season.
  
Last time out, Savannah State handed Norfolk State its first conference road loss, with a 59-53 victory on Monday night at Tiger Arena.
    
After a tightly contested first half, the Savannah State offense exploded for 19 points in the third period, opening up a 40-32 advantage heading into the final frame. The Spartans were unable to get closer than five points in the final stanza.
  
Norfolk State senior guard Dominique Harper tallied 11 of her team-high 15 points in the second half while Jordan Strode finished with 11 points. Kayla Roberts led the Spartans with six rebounds. Harper had four of the team's 10 assists and Gabrielle Swinson added three. Harper and Phillips notched three steals apiece to lead the team.

Scouting Maryland Eastern Shore: The Hawks are 3-6 in MEAC play, including four losses in their last five games, with the one victory coming at perennial conference power Hampton on Feb. 1, which was ranked No. 3 in the preseason poll. Their other two wins have come on the road as well and against the top ranked teams in the same poll. After going 6-5 in non-conference play, Maryland Eastern Shore opened conference play with a three-point victory at defending MEAC champion and preseason No. 1 North Carolina A&T. The Hawks also defeated preseason No. 2 Bethune-Cookman on the road by three points.
  
Maryland Eastern Shore is second in the conference in scoring at 62.8 points per game, but 10th in team defense, allowing 64.2 points per contest.
    
Ciani Byrom leads the Hawks in scoring at 14.6 points per game, while Mariah McCoy averages 10.3 points per game. Keyera Eaton and Moengaroa Subritzky average just under double digits at 9.9 and 9.8 points per game respectively.
    
Subritzky leads the Hawks in rebounds with 6.8 per game, while Tori Morris grabs 5.4 boards.

All-Time Series vs. Maryland Eastern Shore: The two programs have met 40 times on the hardwood, with Norfolk State holding a 24-16 advantage. The Spartans won 16 of the first 17 matchups but Maryland Eastern Shore has won three of the last four. Norfolk State won 74-63 in the only meeting between the two schools last season at the Hytche Center on Feb. 8 2016.
    
Last Meeting vs. Maryland Eastern Shore:  Koryn Lawrence poured in a season-high 21 points to lead Norfolk State to 74-63 victory over Maryland Eastern Shore at the Hytche Center on Feb. 8, 2016.
  
Lawrence hit 8-of-13 from the floor, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range, and added six rebounds, three assists and two steals for Norfolk State, while Kiara Phillips added 12 points and Dominique Harper tallied 11.
    
Maryland Eastern Shore took its first and only lead of the second half, 43-41, on two Moengaroa Subritzky free throws with 4:50 left in the third quarter. But Kayla Roberts and Harper scored back-to-back baskets to start an 11-1 NSU run, which also include a three-point play by Lawrence.
    
NSU, which led 52-46 entering the fourth quarter, maintained a lead of at least four points the entire final period before pulling away. The Spartans sealed it at the line, making 6-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final 1:07.

Moving up the Record Books: Kayla Roberts and Kiara Phillips are moving up the record charts. Listed below are some of their records heading into the Maryland Eastern Shore game:
Roberts:
• She is 84 points from becoming the 22nd player to join the 1,000 point career club.
• Her 11.6 points per game average is 18th in school history.
• Roberts ranks 6th all-time in blocks (95), 10th in rebounds per game (8.9), 10th in 3-point attempts (213), 12th in rebounds (701) and 15th all-time in made 3-pointers (50).

Phillips:
• She is 13th in 3-pointers made (54) and she is14th all-time in 3-point field-goal attempts (192), while ranking 15th all-time in 3-point field-goal percenatage (28.1 percent).

Player Tidbits: Some notes on the Spartans heading into the Maryland Eastern Shore game.
Kayla Roberts
• Named MEAC Defensive Player of the Week on four different occasions this season. She earned her awards for the following weeks: Jan. 30-Feb. 5, Jan. 2-8, Dec. 12-18 and Nov. 28-Dec. 4. Roberts was also named the MEAC Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 16-22.
• She has recorded 10 double-double performances on the season and has 23 in her career.
• Has led the team in scoring 10 times this season, while leading the team in rebounds 17 times and blocks in 13 games.
• Her 10 double-doubles are good enough for second in the MEAC and the eighth-most in the country this season.
• She is tied for the team lead in scoring (12.7 ppg), rebounding (9.3 rpg) and blocks (44).
• Her 30 steals ties her for third on the team.
• Nationally she ranks 47th in blocks per game (2.0), 48th in blocks (44), 50th in rebounds per game (9.3), and 59th in rebounds (205).

Jordan Strode
• She has scored in double figures in 15 of the 20 games she has played in, including a career-high 23 points against Longwood on Dec. 3. She registered her second 20-point game on Jan. 23 at Coppin State, with 21. Her third 20-point game came at home against North Carolina A&T on Jan. 30.
• Leads team in assists per game (2.9), free throws made (55), free-throw attempts (77) and free-throw percentage (71.4 percent).
• She is tied for second on the team in scoring (12.7 ppg), 3-point field goals (24) and 3-point field-goal attempts (91).
• Her 29.2 minutes per game and 5.4 rebounds per game ranks third on the team.
• Strode was named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Week, for the week of Nov. 28 - Dec. 4.
• She averaged 19.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists against High Point and Longwood.
• Strode tallied a career-high 23 points, including 12-of-12 from the free-throw line, with four rebounds, four assists and one steal at Longwood.

Dominique Harper
• Averaging 10 points and 4.1 rebounds in 27.4 minutes per game. (Career averaged 3.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game in her first three seasons, which consisted of 73 games.)
• Her 35 steals leads the team and her average of 1.6 steals per game ranks 11th in the conference.
• She leads the team in field-goal percentage at 44.6 percent and is second in assists with 2.5 per game.
• Harper ranks third on the team and 21st in the MEAC in points per game, while playing the
fourth-most minutes per game on the team. She is also fourth on the team with 4.1 rebounds per game.

Gabrielle Swinson
•Missed 10 games from Dec. 15 (William and Mary) through Jan. 23 (Coppin State) due to personal reasons. She returned to the team in time for the game against Bethune-Cookman.
•Swinson averaged 8.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists in eight games this season.
•In her four games back, Swinson is averaging 8.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 4.75 assists and 2.0 steals. She also recorded her first career block against North Carolina A&T.

Khalilah Ali
• She was named MEAC Co-Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 9-15 after her effort against North Carolina Central.
• Ali registered career highs in points (19), field goals made (9), field goal attempts (15) and blocks (nine) against North Carolina Central.
• Her nine blocks are the second-most in a game in NSU history.
• She was just two rejections shy of the school record of 11, set by Tiffany Gadsden in 2006-07.
• The nine blocks are the second-most in the country this season and the most in the conference.
• She followed that performance up with a new career-high 20 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks and one steal at Delaware State on Jan. 16.

Kiara Phillips
• Has handed out 27 assists in the last 10 games, including a career-high eight assists at Delaware State on Jan. 16.
• She also had five in a game twice this season, which matched her season-high from 2015-16.
• Registered 31 steals this season compared to just 14 last season.
• Tallied 44 assists this season, which is five more than her total from all of last season.

Alexys Long
• Has five of her 15 blocks on the season in the last five games.
• Netted a career-high 10 points against Hampton on Jan. 21 and matched it two games later against Bethune-Cookman on Jan. 28.