The Norfolk State Spartans (#1) beat The Howard Bison (#2) 51-46 to become MEAC Champions for the second season in a row.

“Everybody’s been asking me for the last 40 minutes or however long it’s been, how I feel. I am relieved,” Head coach Larry Vickers said. “That’s the only way to put it into words. It’s a little bit different, this is my fourth championship game. But this one for me was really different because if we would have lost, my expectations were different this year. Expectations were different than last year.”

The championship matchup started with a turnover from each team. The Spartans got the lid off the basket first with a nice hook shot from Niya Fields. That was Niya Fields only basket of the game. She fouled out with 3:54 left in the 4th quarter.

The Spartans had their biggest run of the game at the end of the first quarter with a 9-0 run for 3 minutes and 16 seconds led by Kierra Wheeler. Wheeler finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds in the contest.

The Spartans and the Bison went on back-and-forth runs throughout the half, but scoring in this matchup came as a luxury, and the odds were not in either team’s favor. The Spartans shot 27% throughout the game and the Bison shot 29%.

The score was 20-18 at halftime and Diamond Johnson finished this half with 0 points.

That changed for Johnson, she came out of the half and struck first for the Spartans. Which kicked off an 8-0 run for the Spartans giving them another 9 point lead.

The Bison came back with an amazing 15-4 run to end the 3rd quarter grabbing the lead and ending the quarter up 36-33.

Down the stretch, the Spartans and the Bison went back and forth again, and with 5:45 left in the Quarter the game was tied 41-41.

After Kierra Wheeler was fouled on a layup attempt she went to the line and hit 1/2 free throws, and after a missed opportunity Diamond Johnson lined up and sank a 3 from the elbow. Howards Kaiya Creek came back with a 3 of her own, and on the very next possession the Spartans fought hard with 3 offensive rebounds to get Da’Brya Clark to the line, she knocked down both free throws.

The Bison came down and hit a layup off of a second-chance rebound from Vanessa Blake making the score 47-46.

“We’ve split with Howard in the regular season the last few years, they beat us in the championship, and they beat us every time by dominating the glass every time.” Coach Vickers said. “One of our biggest game goals was to out-rebound them. Vanessa Blake obviously got that key offensive rebound in the end, but for the most part, we limited second-chance opportunities, and thats what are number one gaol was. My team does a good job of listening, buying in and trying to execute, and I thought we did that on the glass today.”

After a turnover from the Bison forced by DaNaijah Williams, they began to foul. Diamond Johnson and Da’Brya Clark were able to make 1/2 of their free throws but DaNaijah Williams with her second clutches moment of the game put it on ice after hitting both free throws to end the game 51-46.

On Sunday night, the Spartans will find out who their opponent and seed for the 2024 NCAA Tournament at 8 pm on ESPN.