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Box Score (html)
at Northern Kentucky (20-5, 13-4 GLVC): 57
Southern Indiana (8-17, 2-15 GLVC): 42
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky.—The University of Southern Indiana women's basketball team could not overcome a slow offensive start to the second half as it fell to Northern Kentucky University, 57-42, Saturday afternoon at the Bank of Kentucky Center.
USI (8-17, 2-15 GLVC) was held to just two points and no field goals throughout the first seven minutes of the second half as it found itself in a 16-point deficit.
The Screaming Eagles, who also struggled to put up points early in the opening half, began to find their rhythm as they slowly chipped away at the Northern Kentucky lead.
Freshman forward
Brooke Valentine, who had six points and a eight rebounds, got the Eagles' first field goal to drop through the net with just over 12 minutes to play, kick-starting an 8-1 surge that brought USI to within nine points (41-32) with nine minutes left in the game.
Neither team could find a basket throughout the next few possessions, but a three-pointer by junior center Ellen Holton with just over six minutes remaining ended the scoring drought, putting the Norse up 44-32 in the process, and began a 13-2 Northern Kentucky run that put the contest out of reach for the Eagles.
“I loved our effort today, thought it was fantastic,” USI Head Coach
Rick Stein said. “I thought our defense played well, but there were times where we made some silly fouls late in the shot clock that helped NKU get to the free throw line; and we had a hard time finding the bucket.”
Earlier in the contest, the Eagles found themselves trailing 14-12 following a bucket by freshman forward/center
Cayla Herbst, but a 12-4 Northern Kentucky spurt allowed the Norse to build a 26-16 advantage with just over five minutes to play in the opening half.
Freshman forward/center
Mary O'Keefe scored five of her eight points in the final five minutes of the first period as the Eagles cut the Norse advantage to 28-22 at the break.
Northern Kentucky (20-5, 13-4 GLVC), however, opened the second half by holding the Eagles to just six field goal attempts in the first 7:45 of the period—USI committed seven of its 22 turnovers in the first 7:45 of the second stanza.
“We ended up with 22 turnovers and some of it was that we were just pressing a little too hard to make something happen,” Stein said. “We only had five assists, but I can tell you we had some looks off some passes where the ball just didn't go in the basket.
“We were gaining all of our momentum off the defensive end,” Stein continued. “It's just nice when the ball goes in the basket every now and then to feed the momentum.”
For the game, the Eagles shot just 28.0 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from three-point range, while Northern Kentucky shot 35.4 percent from the floor and 38.5 percent from downtown. Sophomore guard
Stephanie Carpenter paced the Eagles with 10 points, while Holton and senior guard Casse Mogan had 14 and 18 points, respectively, to lead the Norse.
USI, which out-rebounded the Norse 41-32, concludes the season Thursday at 5:15 p.m. when it travels to Owensboro, Kentucky, to take on Kentucky Wesleyan College. “KWC's a great rivalry for us,” Stein said. “We're going to continue to guard and rebound like we've been doing, but we need to take care of the ball better and get some shots to drop.”
