NSU women avenge lone MEAC defeat, take 12-game win streak into league tournament
NORFOLK — Norfolk State’s women’s basketball team ended its regular season with a 59-53 win over Howard on Thursday night at Echols Hall.
The victory puts the Spartans’ win streak at 12 games going into the MEAC Tournament and avenges their lone conference loss this season. Howard topped NSU 73-60 on Jan. 20 in Washington D.C.
“I’m super proud 24-5, that’s an amazing win percentage,” Vickers said. “Then 13-1 in conference 12 in a row now I think at this point. So you know offensively we want to do little things better going into next week. But defensively we’re rolling at the right time is probably the best defense that we played all year and I think that kind of led to our winning.”
The Bison got out to a good start, leading Norfolk State 14-13 after the first quarter. Vickers and his squad’s patented defense stepped up in the second quarter and helped get the Spartans (24-5, 13-1) back in control.
Howard (13-15, 10-4) made just one shot in the second quarter and Norfolk State’s defense held the Bison to a 10% shooting clip. The Spartans’ offense also improved in the second quarter, shooting nearly 50% from the field and outscoring Howard 17-5 to take a 30-19 halftime lead.
Howard opened the second half with a 10-0 run to get within one point. The Bison shot 54.5% in the third quarter, but Norfolk State was able to keep the Bison at arm’s length for a majority of the quarter. Freshman Anjanae Richardson hit some big shots in the third quarter to keep NSU out in front and ended with 11 points. Kierra Wheeler led the Spartans with 14 points and also had four rebounds, three steals and two steals.
“Our intensity stunk,” Vickers said. “Sometimes you can make a team look bad and then you feel like they’re a bad team. But that team isn’t bad and they were only looking back because we were playing tremendous defense. If you play 75 (percent) against a good team, they’ll make a run on you. They dominated us in the third, luckily in the second and the fourth we were able to be the victors.”
Howard continued to stay close deep into the fourth quarter thanks to some transition buckets and strong shooting. The Bison shot 53.8% in the fourth quarter and outrebounded Norfolk State 42-25 for the game. Despite Howard’s second-half improvements, Norfolk State was still able to stay on top.
“Teams continue to get better, that Howard team gets better every game,” Vickers said. “That’s not the same team from November so shout out to them. We got to do a better job rebounding the basketball. We got three offensive rebounds today, we can’t win a championship next week getting three offensive rebounds.”
Da’naijah Williams made the most of her senior night at Echols Hall. The Brooklyn native was all over the place on Thursday, finishing with a career-high 10 points as well as two rebounds, two assists and two steals.
“Today this game was personal because last game we lost to them,” Williams said. “So I was like, we gotta stand on business this game.”
Norfolk State will start its quest for another MEAC championship next week when the conference tournament begins Wednesday. Wheeler said the team is feeling pretty confident in how they’re playing with the most important portion of the season right around the corner.
“I think we’re more confident in each other and what we’re capable of,” Wheeler said. “I feel like a lot of the times we’re holding each other accountable for things that we know we can do and we can change. As a team I feel like we’ve really worked on that and that’s what’s bringing us together.”
Michael Sauls, (757) 803-5774, michael.sauls@virginiamedia.com
