The Norfolk State Spartans women’s basketball team made an emphatic statement with a dominant 74-37 win over MEAC leader Morgan State on Saturday.
The Spartans evened the season series with Morgan State on the season with the victory and improved to 20-5 overall.
They also are now 8-2 in the conference moving within a game of Morgan State, who dropped to 9-1.
COMMANDING victory for the Spartans, delivering Morgan State its first loss of conference play! @NorfolkStateWBB 🔰
Deja Francis led the way with 16 points in the blowout victory!#SpartanStrong💪 pic.twitter.com/Hcd1aUoTUy
— Norfolk State Athletics (@NSUSpartans) February 18, 2023
This is the most lopsided conference loss Morgan State has taken since a 33-point loss to North Carolina A&T in January 2019.
Deja Francis led the way for Norfolk State scoring a game-high 16 points. She was one of three players to score in double figures along with Camille Downs (12) and Makoye Diawara (10).
Ja’Niah Henson was the only player to crack double-digit scoring for Morgan State contributing 11 points.
The defense was the key to Norfolk State’s victory forcing Morgan State to commit a season-high 26 turnovers. This included recording a season-high tying 17 steals.
In the second quarter, the Spartans had their best defensive output forcing nine turnovers on their way to outscoring the Bears 22-5.
Norfolk State also dominated in the paint outscoring Morgan State 46-6.