ELIZABETH CITY, NC (Jan. 4, 2019) – Junior forward Naterria Luster and senior guard Jalyn Brown combined for 61 points to key a 106-96 win over West Virginia State University as Elizabeth City State closed out its non-conference ledger in the Robert L. Vaughan Center.

The Vikings won for the fifth time in their last six starts as Luster erupted for her sixth double-double of the season with a career-high tying 36 points to go along with 10 rebounds while Brown finished with 25 points and four assists.

It took all ECSU could muster to turn away an incredible 3-point shooting exhibition by the Yellow Jackets who nailed 20 of 37 (54.1%) of their shots from long range.

Junior guard DeNayia Holmes added her second double-double the hard way with 13 points and 11 assists. It marked her third double-digit assist game.  Freshman guard Asia Deal tallied 11 points, five rebounds and seven assists with junior forward Devona Stell chipping in eight points and eight rebounds.  Junior forward Markeia Porter came up with five of the Vikings' 10 steals as ECSU forced 31 turnovers.

Freshman guard Charity Shears, who netted 30 points, nailed eight of nine 3-point jumpers to lead WVSU.  Junior guard Jordan Miller gunned in four of eight shots from beyond the arc on her way to 16 points while senior guard Alexandra Jackson and junior forward Rebecca Burghardt each went three-for-three from long range to carry the Yellow Jacket barrage.  Sophomore guard Amari Grace hauled down a game-high 12 boards to help the visitors construct a 46-38 rebounding margin.

A Brown trey gave the Vikings their biggest lead at 86-69 with 8:11 remaining, but WVSU refused to surrender.  A trey by Burghardt with 24 seconds left trimmed the ECSU lead to 102-96 before Deal closed out the scoring with two free throws and a layup.

ECSU rallied for a 56-44 halftime lead behind 18 points by Luster.  Shears poured in four 3-point jumpers in 104 seconds to boost the Yellow Jackets into a 17-9 lead with 5:22 left in the opening quarter, but the Vikings stiffened their defense and began to edge their way back by pounding the ball into the middle.

A trey by Miller with 1:11 left in the first quarter gave WVSU its last lead of the day at 26-24 before Luster and Brown ignited a 24-6 run which left ECSU firmly charge of the game.  With Luster working inside for eight points and Brown running the floor for six points and three assists the Vikings pulled away for a 48-32 lead on layup by Holmes with five minutes remaining in the half.

ECSU shot a solid 54.8% (23-42) from the floor with only one 3-point field goal attempt during the opening 20 minutes while the Yellow Jackets lived and died by the trey, hitting 11 of 19 during the first half.

The Vikings (9-5, CIAA 2-2), who notched a 7-3 record against non-conference opponents, travel to Raleigh on Monday for a 2 p.m. CIAA rematch against St. Augustine's.  ECSU downed the Falcons, 69-48, in the Vaughan Center on Dec. 15.  West Virginia State (3-9, MEC 2-4) is at West Liberty University for a Mountain East battle on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.