Niya Fields getting passed a defender (Matthew Patterson/NSU Athletics).
The Lady Spartans basketball team defeated the North Carolina Central Eagles 88-52 on February 3rd in Joseph Echols Hall. This game was their 20th win this season and their third consecutive time reaching 20 wins.
“Every game we want to get a little better and I feel like our starting five did a much better job to start the game off than we did on Saturday,” said Spartans Women’s basketball Head Coach Larry Vickers. “I thought they did a really good job with energy and intensity, but I also thought we played really, really smart.”
Within the first minute of the game starting, Spartan guard Niya Fields made the first basket of the game with a layup. Eagles guard, Jada Tigget, blocked a jumper by Spartan guard Da’Brya Clark, but it didn’t phase the Spartans as they went on an 8-0 scoring run.
Going on another 10-0 scoring run, Fields blocked Eagles guard Kyla Bryant’s shot after Spartan guard, Diamond Johnson, knocked down a three-pointer.
The Eagles were unable to get around the Spartans’ defense for the first half of the quarter, forcing them to only put four points on the board within the first three minutes. They put up five more points before the quarter was over from Eagles guard Aysia Hinton’s three pointer and two free throws from guard Tierney Coleman.
Having a strong hold on the game and a significant lead, Clark knocked down a three pointer for the Spartans with 16 seconds left to end the first quarter 26-9.
The Eagles started the second quarter off with a three pointer from Bryant, but the Spartans took over soon after going on another 10-0 scoring run, which included a full-court pass from Fields to guard Anjanae Richardson for a layup.
A collision on the court between Richardson and Eagles forward, Jada Creech, was called as a foul on Creech and gave two free throws to Richardson. Johnson made a three pointer to make up for Richardson missing one of her free throws.
Even though the teams took turns scoring the rest of the quarter, the Spartans had more than double the Bulldogs score and ended the half 44-20.
“I feel like we know what to do,” said Clark. “We had some tough wins away…different refs, different conferences and things like that. We know what to do, we just have to stick together and start the game good.
Clark made a layup coming out of halftime to start the third quarter, but the Eagles countered that basket with Tiggett tipping the ball in from Eagles forward Morgan Callahan’s missed layup. Tiggett blocked an attempted layup from the Spartans, but both Richardson and Johnson responded with a three-point jumper.
Coleman displayed a good hustle when sliding out of bounds to keep the ball in play. This later led to Callahan making an easy layup from underneath.
Spartan forward Ciara Bailey put up the last few points of the quarter with 14 seconds remaining. Her free throw and layup, which was assisted by Richardson, ended the third quarter with the Spartans still on top 68-29.
The last quarter of the match had a smooth start, but switched to a moment of slight chaos three minutes in. Both teams started the quarter with a layup, first from Spartan guard Da’naijah Williams and then from Bryant.
As Williams was going up for a block, she collided with an Eagles player, and it caused some commotion between the teams. The play was ruled as a personal foul on Williams, and two technical fouls were issued, one on Clark and one on Eagles guard Victoria Morris.
Brushing off the previous events, the Eagles went on their first scoring run of six points that included a layup and free throw from Morris, a free throw from Tiggett, and two free throws from Callahan.
After a questionable call from the refs on an out of bounds ball, Spartan guard Jenesis Hill knocked a three down in response to the wrongdoing. The Eagles fought until the end, but the Spartans, with a more than 30-point lead, took the game 88-52.
“They were dominant from the very first whistle, just from executing rotation… you could tell they were in the zone,” said Vickers. “I was happy about our effort, I was happy about our ball movement, I was happy about our reads against a central defense that has done pretty good things from the year.”
Spartan leaders of the game were Diamond Johnson with 24 points and five steals; Niya Fields with nine assists, three blocks, and five steals; and Makoye Diawara with 10 rebounds. Eagles leaders of the game were Kyla Bryant with 15 points; and Jada Tiggett with eight rebounds, six blocks, and two steals.
The Spartans next game will be against the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks on February 15th at 2:00 p.m. in Princess Anne, Maryland.
Spartan Echo 