Vickers Postgame Interview

NORFOLK, Va. – On an day when the three-closest teams to Norfolk State in the MEAC standings picked up victories, the Spartans (13-11, 8-3 MEAC) kept pace in the push for the regular season title with a 62-48 home win over North Carolina Central inside Joseph Echols Hall.
 
NSU led wire-to-wire in its eighth win by double digits on the season. Only two Spartans scored in double figures, but eight players found the bottom of the net with five scoring six or more points.
 
La'Deja James netted a game-high 15 off the bench for NSU on 6-of-10 shooting with six rebounds, two assists and a steal. Raven Russell filled the box score with 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.
 
The Spartans assisted on 20 of their 26 field goals for their sixth game with 20 or more assists this season. NSU is 6-0 this season when hitting the 20-assist threshold and are 11-0 when doing so under head coach Larry Vickers. Five NSU players logged multiple assists, and Dana Echols led all participants with six.
 
Echols flirted with a triple-double against the Eagles (7-18, 4-8) and ended the game with nine points and a season-high 10 rebounds along with her six assists.
 
Saturday was a milestone game for Khadedra Croker, who moved into second place on NSU's career blocks list. Croker rejected six shots in the game and moved past Beverly Davis. In only 48 games, the Suffolk, Virginia native has amassed 140 blocks and is 12 rejections away from matching Kayla Robert's program record of 152 blocks.
 
Norfolk State jumped out to a 10-2 advantage through the first two-and-a-half minutes of the game, but a scoring drought of seven minutes and 27 seconds prevented the Spartans from sprinting away early.
 
NSU made its first five field goals en route to its 10-2 advantage but misfired on its last nine attempts from the field as N.C. Central closed out the quarter on a 7-0 run.
 
Alexys Long was a catalyst for the Spartans' early-quarter dominance, scoring six points on her first three shot attempts. She singlehandedly went on a 6-0 run to push NSU out to its 10-2 lead.
 
The Eagles went scoreless for over five minutes during the middle portion of the quarter, but closed out the frame on a 7-0 run nonetheless. Kieche White started the run with a layup at the 3:23 mark then punctuated it with a rainbow 3-pointer as the quarter expired.
 
White scored a team-high 13 for NCCU and had five assists.
 
The Spartans clamped down in the second quarter, holding the Eagles to 18.8-percent shooting, as they jumped out to a 27-16 halftime edge.
 
NSU pulled away with an 11-2 run through the first five minutes of the second. James scored five of her 15 during the run and hit her lone 3-pointer of the game.
 
Up 24-15, De'Janaire Deas hit a jumper with 1:16 remaining, and NSU led by double digits for the remainder of the half. Deas scored six of the bench on 3-of-5 shooting and added five rebounds, an assist and a block.
 
N.C. Central hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter, but the Spartans shot 53.3-percent from the field to grow their lead to 44-28 after 30 minutes of play.
 
Norfolk State picked up the tempo in the second half, scoring a total of 12 fast break points in the third and fourth quarters combined. In the third, the Spartans outscored the Eagles 6-0 on the break and enjoyed a 14-2 edge in points in the paint.
 
The Eagles cut the lead to single digits three times in the third quarter, but NSU kept at least a seven-point cushion throughout the frame.
 
Zaria Atkins answered an Echols 3-pointer with a trey of her own at the 3:04 mark to cut the deficit to 36-27. Less than a minute later, James scored in transition to give NSU an 11-point advantage, and the lead never dipped below 11 again.
 
James' layup began an 8-1 quarter-ending run for NSU. The Spartans attacked the paint with ferocity to close the third, scoring each of their last eight points on layups.
 
NSU led by as many as 19 in the final quarter as both sides shot 40-percent or better in the period. Back-to-back layups by Russell put the Spartans ahead 52-33 with 8:34 to go in the game, but the Eagles countered with a 6-0 run spanning 1:46.
 
From there, the lead flickered between 13 and 15 points before NSU strung together six-straight to go up 19 with 62 seconds remaining. N.C. Central netted the last five points to produce the final margin.
 
NSU shot 40-percent (26-of-65) from the field in the victory but were only 2-of-15 from long range. Defensively, the Spartans held the Eagles to 27.5 percent from the floor.
 
The Spartans outrebounded NCCU by nine, 49-40, but did allow 20 offensive rebounds.
 
Paulina Afriyie, the Eagles' leading scorer on the season, finished a rebound shy of a double-double but was frustrated throughout the game by NSU's defense. Afriyie scored 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting along with two steals and a block.
 
Saturday's victory ensures NSU will finish its 16-game MEAC slate with a non-losing record for the third year in a row. The Spartans last accomplished three-straight non-losing conference seasons when they did so four years in a row between 1998 and 2002.
 
NSU looks to gain ground in the chase for the MEAC championship on Monday, when it welcomes North Carolina A&T and its unblemished 11-0 mark in the conference to Joseph Echols Hall for a 5:30 p.m. showdown.