Box Score

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Sarah Bolden scored a game-high 21 points off the bench, while teammate Jalisa Isaac added 17 points as No. 6 Bethune-Cookman defeated No. 11 Norfolk State in the opening round of the 2010 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament on Tuesday afternoon at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Lady Wildcats advance to the quarterfinal round and will face No. 3 Morgan State at noon on Thursday.

The game was a close one from beginning to end. B-CU (16-14) scored the first four points of the game on a layup and two free throws by Jasmine Daniels. NSU (4-23) took a one-point lead, 9-8, on a basket by Batavia Owens (Norfolk, Va.) with 16:19 left in the first half. The Spartans increased their lead to five, 15-10, after a layup by Raychele Payne (Newport News, Va.) at the 14:58 mark.

A pair of free throws by Demetria Frank with 2:58 left in the opening period put B-CU up by two, 35-33, and the Lady Wildcats outscored the Spartans 7-0  the rest of the way to take a 42-33 lead into halftime.

The Spartans went on a 7-0 run to start the second half to get within two, 42-40, after a layup by Whitney Long (Raleigh, N.C.) with 16:01 left in the game. But back-to-back 3-pointers by the Lady Wildcats opened up a seven-point lead.

The closest NSU could get after that was four, 62-58, after a jumper by Genor Dalton (Martinsville, Va.) with 4:35 left. B-CU led by 12 in the final moments, but Marian Brooks (Woodbridge, Va.) scored a layup with nine seconds left to cut the final deficit to 10.

For B-CU, Daniels had 14 points, a game-high eight assists and was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line. Demetria Frank also scored in double figures with 10 points.

Payne and Brooks each had 16 points for NSU. Brooks, who notched her career-high in points, added eight rebounds and was 8-of-10 from the charity stripe.
 
When asked about her team’s effort in the game, head coach Debra Clark said, “We gave a good fight. Our girls gave all they had, but they just ran out of gas at the end of the game.”