The Norfolk State women’s basketball team finishes a quick two-game road trip through North Carolina when the Spartans face the Lady Aggies of North Carolina A&T in a 2 p.m. Monday, Jan 18, matinee at Corbett Sports Center. Photo from NSUSpartans.com.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Norfolk State women’s basketball team finishes a quick two-game road trip through North Carolina when the Spartans face the Lady Aggies of North Carolina A&T in a 2 p.m. Monday, Jan 18, matinee at Corbett Sports Center.

The start time was moved up to 2 p.m., three and a half hours earlier than originally scheduled, due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The game can be heard live on WNSB 91.1 FM with Ross Gordon calling the action.

Scouting NSU: The Spartans (0-15, 0-5 MEAC) had perhaps their best chance for a win so far this season on Saturday, but Kiara Phillips’ long 3-pointer from the left wing missed at the final buzzer in a 63-62 loss at North Carolina Central on Saturday in Durham. The Spartans trailed by three, 63-60, with 15 seconds left before Siobhan Beslow cut the deficit to one with a jumper with seven seconds left. Kristin Askew missed two free throws for the Eagles, and Phillips had a chance to give NSU its elusive first win, but the shot missed off glass.

Yazmen Hannah scored 17 points to tie her career high to pace the Spartans. Beslow had a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Phillips added 15 points off the Spartan bench.

Scouting N.C. A&T: The Lady Aggies (7-9, 3-2 MEAC) had their three-game winning streak snapped in a 55-52 loss to Hampton in Greensboro on Saturday. N.C. A&T shot just 27 percent from the floor in the loss, including just 21 percent from long distance and 65 from the free-throw line. Aprill McRae led the Lady Aggies with 16 points and 12 rebounds and made 6-of-10 from the floor. But the rest of her team shot just 11-of-53.

McRae, a preseason All-MEAC second-team selection, leads N.C. A&T with 12.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Guard Dana Brown averages 11.0 points per game and has hit 32 3-pointers.

Series History: The all-time series between NSU and N.C. A&T is tied at 16-16. The Spartans won the last meeting, a 76-75 overtime win at Echols Hall in Norfolk on Jan. 19, 2015. That loss broke a stretch in which N.C. A&T had won 12 of 13 in the series, with 11 of the 12 wins coming via double figures.

In the last meeting, NSU rallied from 19 points down with less than 17 minutes remaining to force overtime. In OT, Koryn Lawrence hit the go-ahead layup with 14 seconds left and NSU held on for a 76-75 win. Rae Corbo scored 30 points, Lawrence tied her career high with 23 and Kayla Roberts had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

N.C. Natives Step Up: NSU’s two North Carolina natives in the playing rotation, Yazmen Hannah and Shayla Tanner, apparently enjoy playing in their home state. Both came up big in Saturday’s narrow 63-62 loss at North Carolina Central in Durham. Hannah, a freshman guard from Hickory, N.C., matched her career high with 17 points and was 7-of-14 from the floor. Tanner, a sophomore center who is from Raleigh, played 15 minutes, her second-longest stint of the year. She blocked a career-high four shots while scoring a season-high four points and matching her season’s best with four rebounds. Both will get a chance to play in front of friends and family again on Monday.

Originally posted on NSUSpartans.com