Tierney Coleman vs. Norfolk State 2026
Doug Burt
Tierney Coleman In Action Vs. Norfolk State
68
Winner Norfolk St. Norf 6-10,1-0 MEAC
48
N.C. Central NCCU 3-11,0-1 MEAC
Winner
Norfolk St. Norf
6-10,1-0 MEAC
68
Final
48
N.C. Central NCCU
3-11,0-1 MEAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Norfolk St. Norf 17 23 10 18 68
N.C. Central NCCU 6 13 16 13 48

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | NCCU Athletic Communications

Eagles Fall Behind Early, Drop MEAC Opener To Norfolk State

DURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina Central couldn't recover from a slow start in a 68-48 MEAC opening women's basketball loss to Norfolk State at McDougald-McLendon Arena on Saturday.

Morgan Callahan and Aniya Finger each scored 10 points for the Eagles with Finger making 2 of 3 three-pointers. The inside duo scored nearly half of NCCU's points.

NCCU (3-11, 0-1 MEAC) dug a hole for itself early, falling behind 17-6 on 13 turnovers and 1 of 10 shooting in the first quarter. The margin grew to 40-19 at the break.

After trailing by 23 points in the third quarter, the Eagles came to life. Finger drilled two three-pointers to ignite a 7-2 run which trimmed the deficit to 50-35. NCCU played its best basketball in the third quarter, outscoring Norfolk State 16-10.

The Eagles continued to battle in the fourth quarter. Aysia Hinton, the MEAC leader in made three-pointers per game, knocked down a trey to pull NCCU with 13 with a little over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. That was the last point the Eagles would score as Norfolk State finished the contest on a 7-0 spurt.

Callahan grabbed a team-high six rebounds and blocked two shots for the Eagles. Both Dianna Blake and Nia Young contributed five rebounds and six points, respectively, off the bench. The Eagles, ranked 46th nationally in bench points per game, outscored the Norfolk State reserves 17-10.

Tierney Coleman added seven points and Najah Lane contributed four points and team-highs of four assists and four steals for the Eagles, who collected 15 steals.

The MEAC contest featured two teams that excel in forcing turnovers and getting steals. Norfolk State (6-10, 1-0 MEAC), ranked 20th in the nation in steals per game, ended up compiling more turnovers (28-27) but outscored NCCU 32-20 in turnover points. The Eagles, ranked 23rd nationally in forcing turnovers, held Norfolk State to 37.5 percent shooting but shot 25.9 percent and were outrebounded 55-30 in losing their seventh consecutive game to the Spartans.

NEXT UP
The Eagles will travel to Baltimore next weekend for MEAC road clashes against Morgan State (Jan.8) and Coppin State (Jan. 10). Game times are 6 p.m. against Morgan State and 2 p.m. against Coppin State.

For more information on NCCU Athletics, visit NCCUEaglePride.com.
 
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