Norfolk State Women's Basketball

#5 Norfolk State vs. #12 Delaware State	Monday, March 6	1 p.m.	Norfolk Scope
Radio: Hot 91.1 FM WNSB	TV: ESPN3	Live Stats	Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - Norfolk State (14-14, 9-7) opens play in the 2017 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament with a first-round game Monday against the 12th-seeded Lady Hornets of Delaware State. The Spartans enter the tournament after dropping four consecutive games, including a 77-65 loss at Hampton in the team's season finale on Feb. 27. This is the longest losing streak of the season, as the team had only lost two consecutive games on two separate occasions.

Spartans in the MEAC Tourney: Norfolk State is 16-17 all-time in the MEAC Tournament, with one championship (2002). The Spartans have reached the MEAC finals on two other occasions, losing in 2000 and 2005. The Spartans are 8-8 all-time in the MEAC in first-round games, after their 78-54 loss to Coppin State in the first round of last year's tournament. Against the Lady Hornets, Norfolk State is 1-3 all-time in the tournament, but the one win came in a similar situation two years ago. Norfolk State entered the 2015 tournament as the fourth seed and defeated 13th-seeded Delaware State 70-45 in the opening round before later losing to Maryland Eastern Shore in the semifinals.

About NSU: The Spartans dropped its fourth consecutive game after Monnazjea Finney-Smith's career-high 25 points helped Hampton complete a season-sweep of the Norfolk State with a 77-65 victory over the Spartans on Feb. 27 at Hampton University's Convocation Center.    
    
Gabrielle Swinson recorded a career-high 19 points to lead the Spartans in their final regular-season game. Swinson led the team in points, and rebounds. She matched her career-high seven assists and grabbed six rebounds.    
    
Norfolk State ranks second in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in scoring offense at 62.4 points per game, while the Spartans allow the third-fewest points per contest at 57.7 points. They have the third-highest shooting percentage at 38.0 percent, and the second-best field-goal defense in the conference at 33.3 percent.
    
Norfolk State grabs 41.0 rebounds per game, which is the sixth-highest total in the MEAC, while blocking the most shots at 6.4 per contest. The Spartans hand out the most assists per game at 14.0 and have the second-fewest turnovers per game at 16.1.

Scouting Delaware State: Delaware State enters the tournament after dropping nine of its last 10 games, including eight straight. The Lady Hornets' last win was over a month ago, when they defeated North Carolina Central 68-60 in Delaware on Feb. 1.
    
Delaware State ranks seventh in the MEAC in scoring at 57.7 points a game, while allowing the most points per contest at 74.9 points.
    
Najai Pollard, who was named to the All-MEAC first team, leads the conference in scoring at 18.6 points per game and in rebounding at 9.8 boards per game. Mikah Aldridge is the only other Lady Hornet to average in double figures, with 13.5 points per game. Aaliyah Davis is second on the team in rebounding at 4.4 boards per game.

All-Time Series vs. Delaware State: Delaware State leads the all-time series with Norfolk State 23-19 after Norfolk State's 82-74 victory in Dover, Del. on Jan. 16. The Spartans' only win against the Lady Hornets in the tournament was a 70-45 first round victory in the 2015 MEAC Tournament at Norfolk Scope on March 9, 2015.
    
Last Meeting vs. Delaware State: Norfolk State got huge contributions from all five of its starters in an 82-74 victory over Delaware State on Jan. 16 at Memorial Hall. The 74 points was the second-most by an opponent all season.
    
Kayla Roberts scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while senior forward Khalilah Ali added a career-high 20 points and 11 rebounds. Jordan Strode and Dominique Harper joined Ali and Roberts in double-digit scoring, with 13 points apiece. Kiara Phillips dished out a career-high eight assists while adding eight points and seven rebounds.
    
Delaware State's offense was on fire at the start of the game. The Lady Hornets made six of their first 10 shots to open up a 17-11 lead when NaJai Pollard made a jumper in the lane with 3:33 left in the first quarter. Despite the fast start they were unable to hold off Norfolk State over the final 13 minutes of the half and trailed 47-33 at the intermission.
    
Pollard and Mikah Aldridge tallied 21 points apiece for the Lady Hornets, while Pollard snagged a game-high 18 rebounds.

All-MEAC Spartans: Norfolk State junior guard/forward Kayla Roberts was named to the All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference first team, while senior guard Jordan Strode was named to the All-MEAC third team as the league announced its yearly postseason awards. Roberts is the fourth Spartan to earn All-MEAC first team honors in school history and the first since Rachel Gordon at the end of the 2013-14 season.
    
Roberts is currently 10th in the conference in scoring (12.3 ppg) and first in the MEAC and 29th in the nation with 7.0 defensive rebounds per game. Her 9.1 rebounds per game ranks third in the MEAC and 51st in the nation. She has blocked 59 shots this season, which ranks fifth in the conference and 41st nationally.
    
Strode is currently second on the team in scoring, at 11.6 points per game, which ranks 12th in the MEAC entering the MEAC tournament. Strode is also ninth in the league in free-throw percentage at 74.2 percent. She was named MEAC Player of the Week once during the season.

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 Hampton game:
Roberts:
• She has tallied 982 points and is 18 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 (110), 10th in rebounds per game (9.0), 11th in rebounds (752) and 14th all-time in made 3-pointers (53).

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:
• 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-win improvement is the largest from one season to the next in the history of the program.
• Clinched a winning record in conference play for just the fourth time in the Division I era.
• 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.

Player Tidbits: Some notes on the Spartans heading into the Howard.
Kayla Roberts
• Has had at least one block in all but seven games this season, while recording at least three blocks in 10 games.
• She set a career-high eight blocks against North Carolina A&T on Jan. 30. Tallied five blocks in three games and seven blocks against South Carolina State.
• 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 12 double-double performances on the season and has 25 in her career.
• Has led the team in scoring 11 times this season, while leading the team in rebounds 21 times and blocks in 15 games.
• Her 12 double-doubles are good enough for second in the MEAC.
• She leads the Spartans in scoring (12.3 ppg), rebounding (9.1 rpg) and blocks (59).
• Her 40 steals rank third on the team.
• Roberts ranks 28th nationally with 7.0 defensive rebounds per game, 39th in blocks per game (2.1), 47th in blocks (59), 51st in rebounds per game (9.1) and 60th in rebounds (256)

Jordan Strode
• She has scored in double figures in 15 of the 22 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 (2.7), free throws made (66) and free-throw percentage (74.2 percent).
• Strode is second on the team in scoring (12.0 ppg), 3-point field goals (25), 3-point field-goal attempts (104) and free-throw attempts (85).
• Her 29.2 minutes per game ranks second on the team, while her 5.3 rebounds per game ranks third.
• 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 10.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 28.3 minutes per game. (Career averages were 3.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game in her first three seasons, which consisted of 73 games.)
• Her 48 steals leads the team and her average of 1.7 steals per game ranks 10th in the conference.
• She is second on the team in field-goal percentage at 41.2 percent and is second in assists with 2.6 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 4.0 rebounds per game.

Gabrielle Swinson
• Averaging 13.0 points, 4.0 assists and 5.6 rebounds over the last five games.
• 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 on Jan. 28.
• Swinson averaged 8.3 points, 3.4 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals in her first eight games this season.
• In 10 games back, Swinson is averaging 10.9 points, 4.6 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 steals. She also recorded her first career block against North Carolina A&T.
• Recorded a career-high 19 points to lead the Spartans at Hampton in their final regular-season game. Swinson led the team in points, and rebounds. She had seven assists and grabbed six rebounds to match career highs in both categories and registered four steals as well.


Khalilah Ali
• Ali registered career highs in points (19), field goals made (nine), 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 conference this season.
• She was named MEAC Co-Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 9-15 after her effort against North Carolina Central.
• 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.
• Ali ranks 90th in the nation in blocks with 45 and 92nd in the nation in blocks per game with 1.6.

Kiara Phillips
• Netted a season-high 18 points at South Carolina State on Feb. 15.
• Has handed out 36 assists in 13 conference games, including seven in the game against South Carolina State.
• She registered a career-high eight assists at Delaware State on Jan. 16.
• Phillips also had five assists in a game twice this season, which matched her season-high from 2015-16.
• Registered 38 steals this season compared to just 14 last season.
• Tallied 53 assists this season, which is 14 more than her total from all of last season.

Alexys Long
• Averagining 7.6 points over the last five games.
• Tallied a career-high 15 points at Florida A&M on Feb. 18.
• Netted her first double-digit scoring game with 10 points against Hampton on Jan. 21 and matched it two games later against Bethune-Cookman on Jan. 28.