DURHAM, N.C. — The North Carolina Central University women's basketball team will play its last two home games of the 2020-21 season when the Eagles host Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) foe Norfolk State University in a pair of games on Wednesday-Thursday, March 3-4, that will determine the second and third seeds from the Southern Division. Both games inside McDougald-McLendon Arena will start at 4 p.m. with Thursday's finale being Senior Day.
GAME INFO:
DATE: Wed., March 3 (4 PM) & Thurs., March 4 (4 PM)
LOCATION: McDougald-McLendon Arena, Durham, N.C.
TICKETS: Not Open to the Public
WATCH:
NCCU Sports Network
FOLLOW:
LIVE STATS;
@NCCUAthletics
DIGITAL GAME NOTES:
NC Central;
Norfolk State
DIGITAL GAME PROGRAM:
March 3 (featuring
Necole Hope)
DIGITAL GAME PROGRAM:
March 4 (Senior Day featuring
Kieche White and
Faith Williams)
NC CENTRAL BENCH:
The Eagles have lost their last six games and are coming off a pair of losses at North Carolina A&T State University last weekend. NC Central (3-10 Overall, 1-5 MEAC) is in third place in the Southern Division and will recognize
Kieche White and
Faith Williams before Thursday's game on Senior Day.
Sophomore forward
Anissa Rivera earned her seventh MEAC weekly award last week. Rivera has earned two MEAC Player of the Week awards and five MEAC Defensive Player of the Week honors in the eight weeks NCCU has played this season.
Rivera has scored in double digits in all 13 games this season. She leads the MEAC in several major statistical categories, including points per game (15.8), rebounds per game (10.1) and 3.2 blocks per game. Rivera has seven double-doubles and ranks fourth nationally with 3.17 blocks per contest.
Senior
Necole Hope and junior
Kiyana Brown are averaging 9.0 and 8.3 points per game, respectively, in conference play. Brown is also supplying 8.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game in league action. Williams has started the last four games for the Eagles and has averaged 10 points per game since moving into the starting lineup.
NORFOLK STATE BENCH:
The Spartans handed N.C. A&T its first league loss of the season in their last game. Norfolk State (3-7 Overall, 2-4 MEAC) needs one win against the Eagles to secure the Southern Division second seed where NCCU needs the sweep to jump over the Spartans in the standings.
Junior Jalynn Holmes has played in all 10 games in her first season at Norfolk State after transferring from Towson and she leads the Spartans with 12.3 points per game, including 1.4 made 3-pointers per game.
Senior Mangela Ngandjui, a transfer from UNCG, is second in the MEAC behind Rivera with 9.5 rebounds per game. She is also providing the Spartans 11.4 points per game. NSU's post presence has also gotten stronger with the addition of sophomore transfer Shine Strickland-Gills, who in her first two starts of the season last time out averaged 7.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 steals against the Aggies. Graduate student E'Lexus Davis is Norfolk State's top returning player and she paces the Spartans with 3.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game while chipping in 8.5 points per contest.
SERIES:
The Eagles and Spartans split their first two games in Norfolk, Virginia, on Jan. 23-24. Norfolk State won the opener 69-64 with Ngandjui logging a double-double, Holmes scoring 18 points and Davis contributing 13 points, seven assists and five steals. NCCU bounced back with a 57-44 win the following day as Rivera supplied 22 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks and Brown notched a third straight double-double.
