NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State women's basketball scored only eight points in the final quarter as Campbell broke a 41-41 deadlock to win 57-49 in a low-scoring affair on Tuesday afternoon inside Joseph Echols Hall.
The Fighting Camels (3-1) outscored the Spartans (2-3) 16-8 in the fourth period and led for nearly the entirety of the frame. After struggling from the field in the first half, CU shot 65.2 percent in the second and made six of its 10 shot attempts in the fourth quarter.
After rallying from an early seven-point deficit in the third quarter, NSU's offense went cold in the final period, shooting just 23.1 percent and missing six of its seven shots from beyond the arc.
A balanced approach on offense carried the Camels on Tuesday. Eight players scored at least three points and only two participants scored in double figures. Taya Bolden and Lauren McNamara-Clement paced CU with 11 points apiece.
Raven Russell turned in a game-high 14 points for NSU on 4-of-9 shooting. The senior guard made all six of her shots at the foul line and shared the game-high with six boards.
The two sides were tied at six apiece after the opening five minutes of the game after trading 6-0 runs. NSU scored the first three baskets of the contest on layups by
De'Janaire Deas, Russell and
La'Deja James, but the Spartans missed their next three shots while Campbell knotted the score at 6-6.
Alexys Long broke the deadlock and NSU's scoring drought on a jumper with 4:31 to play in the period. A minute later,
Kendrea Dawkins hit a 3-pointer, the Spartans' only trey of the first half, to push the lead to 11-6, but the Camels scored the next five to tie the score inside the final minute.
Both defenses ratcheted up their intensity in a second quarter that saw a combined 13 points scored. Neither team scored a point for nearly five-and-a-half minutes to start the quarter, and the two sides shot a combined 5-for-27 (18.5 percent).
Dawkins hit on a jump shot at the 4:32 mark for the first points of the quarter and put NSU ahead 15-11, but McNamara-Clement answered with a layup 30 seconds later.
McNamara-Clement scored four of Campbell's seven points in the quarter, making a pair of free throws following a fast break layup by Russell.
The Fighting Camels went to the intermission trailing by one, 19-18, on a 3-pointer by Ashlyn Hampton, CU's only trey of the first half. The two sides were ice-cold from deep to start the game, shooting a combined 2-of-18 (11.1 percent) from beyond the arc in the first half.
The low-scoring second quarter would be but a distant memory following halftime as the two sides combined for 45 points in the third quarter on 16-of-24 (66.7 percent) shooting.
Campbell seized the initiative early in the third, scoring the first seven points following the break. Kyra Davis, CU's leading scorer on the season, hit back-to-back 3-pointers inside the first two minutes for a quick six points. The consecutive treys represented the first baskets for Davis, who went scoreless on just two shot attempts in the first half.
Trailing 25-19, Dawkins stopped the bleeding with a layup at the 8:09 mark, but the Camels quickly pushed their lead to 30-23 on Davis' layup and a 3-pointer by Lauren Carter.
Russell had an answer for Davis and Carter, scoring the next five points for NSU. Following a pair of free throws, James turned Luana Serranho over and found Russell on the break for a layup plus the foul. Her three-point play cut the deficit to two, 30-28, with 6:28 left in the quarter.
James nearly single-handedly put NSU back ahead with four unanswered points, punctuated by a steal and fast break layup to give the Spartans a 34-33 edge at the 3:46 mark. The Spartans' margin grew to four at 39-35, but a jumper by Caroline Bowns just before the buzzer knotted the score at 41-41 going into the fourth quarter.
Campbell scored the first six points of the final frame and never trailed. The Fighting Camels continued their torrid shooting performance into the fourth quarter, making six of their 10 attempts, while the Spartans simply could not keep up.
Trailing by six,
Dana Echols cut the deficit in half on a 3-pointer at the 5:16 mark of the period. That bucket was NSU's first of the quarter, breaking a string of five-straight misses by the Spartans.
The lead quickly jumped to six points again after Hayley Barber made the first free throw but missed the second. Hampton gathered the miss and laid it in to put Campbell ahead 50-44.
Following that offensive rebound and putback, the Camels' lead never dipped below four points as NSU closed the game with misses on five of its last seven shots.
The Spartans turned the ball over a season-low 14 times on Tuesday. Norfolk State turned Campbell over 17 times in the game and scored 23 points off those giveaways.
James scored in double figures for the fourth-straight contest, finishing with 10 points, five rebounds and a game-high three steals.
Norfolk State now turns its attention to the Christmas City Classic hosted by Lehigh this Saturday and Sunday. The Spartans face Lehigh at 2 p.m. on Saturday then play either Charlotte or Liberty the following day.
