PALO ALTO, Ca. (WTKR) — After losing to South Carolina in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley made sure to point out that Norfolk State never played like a 16-seed.
The Spartans once again showing that fight on Friday night against Stanford, but the effort not enough to calm down the Cardinal powerhouse.
Behind 18 points from Elena Bosgana and Cameron Brink's 17 points and 15 rebounds, Stanford held off NSU's challenge in a 79-50 game.
From the tip, Norfolk State showing no signs of intimidation against the second seeded Cardinal, trailing 15-12 after the opening quarter. After Tara VanDerveer's group opened up a 16-point advantage in the second frame, the Spartans stayed locked in with a couple of buckets down the stretch to go to the locker rooms down 32-19.
Stanford would open things up out of the half, taking a 40-21 lead just a minute into the third quarter. Again, the green and gold would whittle it down to 13 on three straight field goals from MEAC Player of the Year Kierra Wheeler.
The host team, however, would never let it get closer, grabbing a 58-37 lead going to the final quarter and only growing it for the final ten minutes.
Diamond Johnson would finished the game with a team-high 19 points while Wheeler posted 17 points and eight rebounds. The Spartans turned the Cardinal over 14 times and gave the ball away on nine occasions, but nine three-pointers from Stanford made up the difference. Bosgana and Hannah Jump tallied much of that hot-shooting performance, nailing four triples a piece.
Norfolk State's 15-game winning streak came to a close with the loss, the season ending at 27-6. It's the green and gold's second straight season making the NCAA Tournament, the first time the program accomplished that milestone in its Dl history.
