RICHMOND, Virginia – Norfolk State women's basketball jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead then weathered a fourth-quarter comeback bid in its 66-52 season-opening road victory Sunday afternoon at VCU.The season-opening win was the Spartan's first since a 60-51 result over Penn on Nov. 9, 2012.
The Spartans (1-0) feasted from beyond the three-point arc on Sunday, out-scoring the Rams (0-1) 33-9 on three-pointers. Norfolk State shot 11-26 (42.3 percent) from deep, while VCU made just three of its 12 treys. The 11 made threes are the fourth-most in program history.
Five different Spartans connected on long-range attempts, led by Alexys Long's career-high five makes from three. The junior wing ended the game with a career-best 17 points to pace NSU. Long also becomes the first Spartan to make five or more three-pointers since Rae Corbo (5) did so against Marshall on Dec. 16, 2014.
Norfolk State's interior defense was rugged against VCU, as the Spartans held the Rams to 12-39 shooting on two-pointers and blocked 14 shot attempts – the third most in program history. NSU has recorded 16 blocks on two occasions, last doing so on Feb. 5, 2007 against Bethune-Cookman.
Khadedra Croker loomed large in the paint in her Norfolk State debut. The Suffolk, Virginia native blocked seven shots on Sunday and grabbed five rebounds. Kendrea Dawkins also turned away four shots.
Norfolk State utilized three scoring runs to build its first-half lead. The Spartans scored the first eight points of the game, which prompted an early VCU timeout. Raven Russell scored four points in that opening run as part of a 13-point outing in her NSU debut.
Bria Gibson halted the Spartan run with a layup at the 6:34 mark of the first quarter, and the Rams countered with a 12-0 run of their own and led 12-8 with 1:32 left in the first.
However, VCU would not score again, as the Spartans accounted for the final eight points of the period.
Kayla Roberts pulled NSU to within a point with her first trey of the game at the 1:23 mark. Armani Franklin stripped Gibson on the Rams' next possession and laid the ball in to give the Spartans the lead again at 13-12. Roberts capped off the first quarter with another three with 27 seconds remaining.
The Rams out-shot the Spartans in the first quarter, but nine turnovers proved costly for VCU. For the game, Norfolk State scored 25 points off 27 turnovers by the Rams.
Norfolk State opened the second quarter with treys by Long and Zairya West. A made free throw by Shayla Tanner gave the Spartans a 23-13 lead – their first double-digit margin of the game.
From there, the Rams whittled the lead down to six points. Gibson's jumper made the score 23-17 with 4:50 left in the quarter, but Norfolk State promptly shut the door closed on VCU – scoring 12 of the half's final 13 points.
Newcomers accounted for all 12 of those points, as Russell and Franklin scored six points apiece. Russell made three free throws and connected on a three-pointer in that span. Franklin scored her points on three layups, two of which followed steals by the freshman guard.
With their perimeter shots not falling, VCU came out of the intermission intent on attacking the basket. The Rams shot just one three in the third quarter but went to the free-throw line 10 times in an attempt to close the gap.
The Rams pulled to within 12 points midway through the third period. Jailyn Maddox came out aggressively to start the second half and went to the line eight times in the first four-plus minutes of the quarter. Maddox made six of her eight free throws in that span and made the score 37-25.
Yet once again, VCU could not sustain its push, and the Spartans went on an 11-2 run over the next three minutes to build a 21-point cushion.
BOX SCORE
The Spartans made three shots from long range during their third-quarter run. Russell keyed the surge with a trey at the 5:37 mark. Long followed with a three-pointer of her own on the next possession to bump the lead up to 43-27. Long made two free throws, and Alexis Sparkman made her first three as a Spartan to close out the run.
VCU worked furiously at a fourth-quarter comeback but came up short. The Rams out-scored the Spartans 19-14 in the final period but never saw the deficit shrink to fewer than 12 points.
Long put NSU ahead by 22 with just 3:48 remaining in the game, and that would be the Spartan's final field goal of the game. The Rams scored the next 10 points on the strength of seven points by Delphynia Sparks.
De'Janaire Deas made both free throw attempts with 13 seconds remaining to close out the game.
Maddox scored a game-high 18 points for the Rams. She made just two field goals but went 13-of-18 at the charity stripe. VCU attempted twice as many free throws as Norfolk State (31-14) and made eight more of them (19-11).
Franklin was the game's leading helper with seven assists. Roberts paced the Spartans with seven rebounds.
Sunday's result gives NSU an 8-6 edge over VCU in the all-time series. The Spartans snapped a three-game losing streak against the Rams. Norfolk State last defeated VCU 73-65 on Dec. 13, 1998.
Norfolk State returns to action on Friday with a road game against 2017 WNIT-qualifier Navy. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS
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