Vickers Postgame Interview | Dawkins Postgame Interview

NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State women's basketball nearly saw a 16-point third-quarter lead evaporate as visiting Florida A&M closed out the game on a 10-1 run in the Spartans' 60-58 win on Monday night. The Lady Rattlers (2-11, 0-2 MEAC) had an opportunity to win the game on the final shot but instead turned the ball over with 0.4 seconds left on the clock.
 
NSU (7-8, 2-0 MEAC) shot just 32.8 percent on the night, its lowest field goal percentage in a win since shooting 23.6 percent (17-for-72) at Howard on Feb. 26 last season. The Spartans won in large part to their aggressive mentality, reaching the free throw line 31 times and making 18 foul shots.
 
Kendrea Dawkins paced Norfolk State with a game- and career-high 20 points and six rebounds. The redshirt-junior forward set career highs with a 6-of-8 performance at the foul line and contributed an assist, a steal and a block each.
 
Dy'Manee Royal logged a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double for FAMU and was joined in double figures by Mya Moye, who also assisted on four baskets.
 
Norfolk State led 14-6 after the first 10 minutes on the strength of stout defense and a 10-2 run across the middle portion of the period.
 
Florida A&M shot 15.4 percent (2-of-13) in the quarter and endured a scoring drought of four minutes and 37 seconds while the Spartans jumped out to a 10-2 lead.
 
Two Alabama products, Dawkins and Raven Russell, produced NSU's first 10 points, and finished the first half with 20 combined points on 6-of-12 shooting. Russell gave the Spartans a spark with a four-point play at the 6:15 mark of the quarter, and Dawkins capped an 8-0 run for NSU with a pair of free throws 2:15 later.
 
The Lady Rattlers struck back to start the second quarter, narrowing the gap to one point within four minutes.
 
Royal started an 11-4 run with a pair of baskets inside the first 90 seconds of the period. Moye knocked down a 3-pointer at the 6:14 mark before Jasmine Ballew's layup less than a minute later made the score 18-17, but FAMU scored only one more point in the half as the Spartans pulled away with 14-1 run. The Lady Rattlers missed all of their last six shot attempts in the half and gave the ball away three times.
 
Five points from Alexys Long inside the first 2:05 of the third quarter gave NSU its largest lead of the game at 37-21. Florida A&M worked to chip the deficit to 11 points with 4:27 left in the quarter, but a three-point play by Russell and a layup by Danyael Goodhope pushed NSU's advantage back to 16 with only 3:28 to play in the period.
 
Jameila Barrett drained a jump shot to start the fourth quarter, and NSU led 54-39. In a sign of things to come, FAMU responded with a 9-2 run and pulled to within eight.
 
NSU's final field goal of the night, a transition layup from Dawkins, gave the Spartans their last double-digit advantage of the game at 59-48 with 5:28 remaining on the clock. From there, the Lady Rattlers scored 10 of the game's final 11 points.
 
Norfolk State missed its last five shots and turned the ball over three times to close out the game. Over the same time frame, Florida A&M shot 4-of-9 from the floor.
 
A steal and transition layup by Royal with 35 seconds remaining drew the Lady Rattlers to within a point, 59-58. Khadedra Croker missed both of her free throws on the ensuing possession, and FAMU had the opportunity to win the game on the on the final shot.
 
On the Lady Rattlers' last possession, Keziah Dilworth lost control of her dribble while driving towards the basket, and Croker hit the floor to force a jump ball with the possession arrow in NSU's favor. The Spartans inbounded the ball with 0.4 seconds on the clock, and Dana Echols split a pair of free throws to produce the final score.
 
Croker's hustle play capped a stellar night on the defensive end. The redshirt-senior finished the game with six blocks for her sixth game with six or more blocks in the past two seasons. As a whole, the Spartans rejected eight shots against FAMU.
 
The Lady Rattlers out-rebounded NSU 43-38 and held a 30-20 edge in points in the paint. Russell grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, set the game-high with four steals and chipped in 14 points.
 
Norfolk State turned the ball over a season-low 11 times against the Lady Rattlers – its lowest turnover output since a nine-turnover performance at Bethune-Cookman on Feb. 20, 2017.
 
The Spartans face their first road MEAC test on Saturday, when they face Coppin State at 2 p.m. NSU is looking for its first road win on the season and is 0-6 in away contests.