Vickers Postgame Interview

NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State entered the fourth quarter of their game against North Carolina A&T down by 19 before a furious comeback bid in its 49-44 loss on Monday night. The Spartans (13-12, 8-4 MEAC) outscored the Aggies (15-10, 12-0) 19-5 in the fourth to put the final result in question right up to the final buzzer.
 
NSU shot 53.3 percent in the fourth and held N.C. A&T to just two field goals. The Spartans opened the frame on a 12-0 run across the first five minutes of play to slash the deficit to seven at 44-37.
 
Raven Russell scored four of NSU's 12 points during the run and netted 10 in the period. The senior shook off a slow first three quarters to post a team-best 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting with three rebounds and a pair of steals.
 
Mikaya Wilson snapped a scoring streak of five minutes and eight seconds to start the quarter for the Aggies and pushed the lead back to 46-37 with 4:52 remaining. Russell scored the next four points, including her lone trey of the game at the 3:38 mark, and a Dana Echols foul shot made the score 46-42.
 
A drought of 2:17 followed for NSU as the Spartans missed their next four field goals. The Aggies tacked on two points with 2:06 remaining to go up 48-42. Russell produced Norfolk State's last two points of the game on a jumper with 44 seconds remaining to make the score 48-44. From there, N.C. A&T split a pair of free throws and forced two misses from NSU to keep their perfect start to conference play intact.
 
A stellar first half put the Aggies ahead 35-16. N.C. A&T shot 52.4 percent (11-of-21) in the first half and made four of its seven 3-pointers (57.1 percent). Defensively, N.C. A&T overwhelmed the Spartans, holding them to 26.1 percent from the floor with 15 turnovers.
 
N.C. A&T rode C'Coriea Foy in the first half to great effect. Foy scored 19 in the half on 5-of-7 shooting and was 4-of-5 from 3-point range. No other Aggie had more than six in the half.
 
Norfolk State shot 18.2 percent from the field and gave the ball away nine times while falling behind 17-6 in the first quarter. While the Spartans struggled on offense, the Aggies found their rhythm early – shooting 46.2 percent from the floor with a pair of treys.
 
Khadedra Croker kept the Spartans in the game, scoring all six of NSU's points in the frame. Her final two points came on a pair of free throws with 4:49 to make the score 10-6. From there, N.C. A&T closed out the quarter on a 7-0 run.
 
NSU's offense settled down a bit in the second, where it shot 33.3 percent and sunk two 3-pointers. However, the Spartans allowed 62.5-percent shooting in the frame.
 
Foy scored the Aggies' first six points in the second as N.C. A&T extended its lead to 23-8 with 6:46 to play. Croker scored NSU's only points during that span and finished with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting with four rebounds in the half.
 
For the game, Croker contributed 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting with a team-high six rebounds and two blocks.
 
Alexys Long sank a 3-pointer with 4:33 left to snap a scoring freeze of nearly four minutes for NSU. Danyael Goodhope was good from long range on the Spartans' next possession, and the score was 27-14 with 3:46 left in the half.
 
The Aggies answered with an 8-0 run to build their largest lead of the game at 35-14 with 1:21 to play. Goodhope scored the final points of the half to send the Spartans into the locker room down 19.
 
NSU came out of the break a new team and shot 48 percent from the field with only seven turnovers. At the same time, the Aggies' offense broke down and scored only 14 points on 6-of-26 shooting (23.1 percent) and 12 turnovers.
 
The Spartans keyed in on Foy in the second half, holding her to two points on 1-of-7 shooting after the break. She ended with a game-high 21 points, five rebounds and three steals.
 
The two sides netted nine points apiece in the third quarter. NSU cut the deficit to 15 twice in the quarter, including after scoring the first four points of the second half, but the Aggies always had an answer.
 
For the game, the Spartans outshot the Aggies by a slim margin, 37.5 to 36.2 percent, but N.C. A&T turned 13 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points. Alexus Lessears grabbed a game-high seven boards for the Aggies, who saw eight players finish the game with three or more rebounds.
 
Both sides turned the ball over a combined 49 times, but only N.C. A&T was able to capitalize off those mistakes. The Aggies scored 16 points off NSU's 22 turnovers, while the Spartans scored only eight off N.C. A&T's 27.
 
Norfolk State begins the final quarter of its conference schedule this Saturday, when it travels to Morgan State for a 2 p.m. game.