Two Northern Kentucky University coaching legends were honored at halftime of the men’s and women’s games on Saturday at Truist Arena.
First up was the women’s game as the Norse took on Wright State in a Saturday afternoon Horizon League conference battle.
At halftime, the administration unveiled a banner honoring longtime women’s head coach Nancy Winstel and Athletic Director Christina Roybal presented her with a plaque.
Winstel guided the Norse for 29 seasons, retiring in 2012. The Norse finished 636-214 in her tenure, winning NCAA Division II crowns in 2000 and 2008.
“It’s really special to me. I really appreciate it,” Wintsel said. “But it’s not about me, it’s about the people in the basketball program. I’ve been so blessed to coach so many wonderful young ladies and be so successful. I’m very thankful.”
Winstel said she keeps in touch with her former players noting many are mothers, doctors and lawyers. She could be seen talking to one former player in three-year starter Shannon Smith-Lewandowski along with Lewandowski’s daughter Rachel, who is a freshman basketball and volleyball player at Beechwood.
Current NKU women’s coach Camryn Volz does not hesitate to bring in Winstel for guidance. Winstel talked to the current players about the underdog mentality before a win over Kentucky State in December.
During the men’s game, administration honored longtime men’s head coach Ken Shields at halftime. The 78-year-old Shields and his wife Marie come to the games often with their kids and grandkids.
“You’re talking about two people that literally put us on the map and are the reason we’re here today with a Division I program, have this arena,” Norse men’s head coach Darrin Horn said of Shields and Winstel. “The people really care about this program. I think even more if you know anything about both of them, the effect they’ve had on people, not just the players that have played for them, but the people in this area in northern Kentucky. I’m so happy to see them honored in the way that they deserve to be honored. Thank you to everybody that came out and did that and great to have so many former players and athletes back as well.”
Shields coached the Norse for 16 seasons after a successful tenure coaching the Highlands boys. Shields called it a blessing he spent a good part of his coaching career in Campbell County. Northern Kentucky finished 306-170 during that time finishing Division II national runner-up in 1996 and 1997.
“I feel I had something to do with the evolvement of the program to the Division I level and this great facility here,” Shields said. “I was a spoke in the wheel. When I took the job here in the press conference, I said, ‘Always remember I’m a spoke in the wheel.”
Shields took pictures with the family at halftime. He can also often be seen at games involving his grandchildren.
The men followed with a victory over Green Bay while the women lost to Wright State.
Here’s how things went down at Truist Arena on Saturday:
Men
Northern Kentucky 74, Green Bay 52
The Norse made sure it challenged every shot Green Bay took, holding the Phoenix to 35% from the field.
“We’re happy with the effort of our guys from start to finish, especially on the defensive end,” Horn said. “We know they were dangerous coming in, especially shooting the three. We’ve been challenging our guys really for the last few weeks specifically that we’re going to have to defend at a better level than what we had been. If we do that, it’s going to help us offensively as well. I think we really did that so that was great to see.”
The Norse shot 53% from the field and the aggressiveness showed with 14 more trips to the free throw line than Green Bay. The Norse made the trips count, hitting 18-of-25 attempts. Green Bay hit 9-of-11 attempts.
The Norse put four players in double figures. Marques Warrick led the way scoring 21 points. Warrick moved his career total to 1,972 points. He needs 95 more to surpass the program’s all-time leader Drew McDonald’s career total of 2,066 points.
“The difference for us offensively right now in a game like this where it is a slower pace and there aren’t a ton of possessions is can you attack the basket aggressively and do it on-balance with what we call force,” Horn said. “I think our guys are getting better at that and are gaining some confidence with it. Had this been last year’s team, we’d be in the 50s fighting for a two or three-point win. Now if we’re playing good defense, we’re able to get to the foul line and finish some of those around the basket so I think it’s really been important to our growth.”
The multi-threat scorer had plenty of help. LJ Wells scored 15 points with Keeyan Itejere and Michael Bradley scoring 13 and 10, respectively.
“You just have to be confident,” Itejere said of attacking the rim. “We call it testing it with the guards. Whether they’re set or not, we try to get downhill to the paint. That puts a lot of pressure on their team and we trust they’ll make the right play whether it’s finishing at the rim or if they get blocked, it’s our ball. A lot of good things happen when you attack early on.”
Itejere scored the game’s first four points and Bradley hit a jumper around three minutes into the game as the Norse scored the game’s first six points and never gave it up. The lead increased to 10 at 33-23 with 48 seconds left in the first half before Preston Ruedinger hit a jumper with 21 seconds left to make it 33-25 Norse at halftime.
The Norse kept expanding the lead in the second half. The lead hit 20 twice, including the 5:46 remaining mark when Randall Pettus hit a three and did not dip below the rest of the game.
“(Green Bay) is a very disciplined team,” Wells said. “Our identity is guarding so (it was about) being aggressive then when they had an open guy, just keep playing, try to make the next rotation. That’s what helped us be successful.”
Northern Kentucky hosts Purdue-Fort Wayne on Thursday at 7 p.m.
NORSE 74, PHOENIX 52
GREEN BAY — 25-27 — 52
NORTHERN KENTUCKY — 33-41 — 74
Scoring
Green Bay (52) — Jones 11, Reynolds 9, Ruedinger 9, Eames 8, Hall 7, Wonders 6, Cummings 2
Northern Kentucky (74) — Warrick 21, Wells 15, Itejere 13, Bradley 10, Robinson 5, Pettus 5, Israel 3, Meyer 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: Green Bay 19/54, Northern Kentucky 26/49
3-Pointers: Green Bay 5/27, Northern Kentucky 4/16
Free Throws: Green Bay 9/11, Northern Kentucky 18/25
Rebounds: Green Bay 32, Northern Kentucky 33
Assists: Green Bay 9, Northern Kentucky 11
Turnovers: Green Bay 10, Northern Kentucky 5
Steals: Green Bay 2, Northern Kentucky 8
Blocks: Green Bay 2, Northern Kentucky 4
Fouls: Green Bay 21, Northern Kentucky 13
Records: Green Bay 12-9 (7-3 Horizon League), Northern Kentucky 11-9 (6-3 Horizon League)
Women
Wright State 90, Northern Kentucky 83
Rough starts in the first half have normally doomed the Norse this year. But in this game, it was the third quarter that had the Raiders outscore the Norse, 36-19 on their way to the Horizon League win at Truist Arena.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed with the loss,” Northern Kentucky head coach Camryn Volz said. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that we can’t give up 36 points on one quarter. That was really the straw that broke the camel’s back. We have to defend better. We let them into the paint way too much.”
Northern Kentucky had taken a 38-36 halftime lead when Khamari Mitchell-Steen laid one in to beat the buzzer. The Norse could not continue the same defensive intensity in the convincing win over Robert Morris on Wednesday.
Rachel Loobie and Alexis Hutchison led Wright State scoring 24 points each and Kacee Baumhower followed with 10. Lauren Scott came off the bench and gave the improved Raiders a jolt with 12 points. Wright State outscored Northern Kentucky, 21-9 in points off the bench.
“It’s difficult, but it’s nothing we haven’t faced before,” Volz said. “We’ve played a really challenging non-conference schedule. We just have to do a better job of sticking between our man and the basket – just basic defensive principles, not allowing people to drive us to the basket, making sure we have help side rotations then we have to make sure we box out and get the rebounds. They shot the ball really well, but a lot of those were lay-ups. We can’t give up 56 points in the paint.”
Freshman center Carter McCray posted her third consecutive double-double and seventh overall scoring 25 points to go with 11 rebounds. McCray added three assists, but also turned the ball over six times facing consistent double teams in the post.
“We’ve been working on that practice just trying to expect it just learning how to go baseline or dribble out, spin and kick it out to my teammates,” McCray said. “I think that’s really helped in the games. We’re still trying to improve on that.”
Junior guards Kailee Davis and Mitchell-Steen followed with 22 and 16 points, respectively. Davis made three three-pointers and Mitchell-Steen had some success beating defenders to the hole and hitting lay-ups.
“I’ve been working on a lot of moves with some assistant coaches if they take one shot away from me,” Mitchell-Steen said. “Whenever I step over the wing, I just go for it. I just try to take whatever (opponents) give me whenever I drive.”
Down 72-57 entering the fourth quarter, Northern Kentucky pressured Wright State at various points of the court and forced the Raiders into 21 turnovers overall. The Norse trimmed the lead to single digits at 87-79 with 45 seconds left when Mitchell-Steen hit a jumper. Mitchell-Steen hit another one with two seconds left to make it 88-83 Wright State before Cara VanKempen made the final score with two free throws.
“I hear people say it all the time. When you’re down and all of a sudden you have to press and turn people over, it’s like, ‘Oh, we should press the whole game,” Volz said. “But what people don’t know if you have to have 10 people in a rotation to be able to press the entire game. That would be exhausting. We’d have to have Khamari doing that at the top of the press for 40 minutes and there’s just no way that she could do that. We kept fighting to the very end. I’m very proud of that.”
Northern Kentucky travels to Youngstown State on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
RAIDERS 90, NORSE 83
WRIGHT STATE — 18-18-36-18 — 90
NORTHERN KENTUCKY — 19-19-19-26 — 83
Scoring
Wright State (90) — Looble 24, Hutchison 24, Scott 12, Baumhower 10, VanKempen 7, Henson 7, Ferrell 4, Tate 2
Northern Kentucky (83) — McCray 25, Davis 22, Mitchell-Steen 16, Blevins 8, Igo 5, Razzano 4, Hubert 3
Game Stats
Field Goals: Wright State 36/61, Northern Kentucky 30/59
3-Pointers: Wright State 6/15, Northern Kentucky 4/13
Free Throws: Wright State 12/23, Northern Kentucky 19/29
Rebounds: Wright State 36, Northern Kentucky 31
Assists: Wright State 15, Northern Kentucky 9
Turnovers: Wright State 21, Northern Kentucky 18
Steals: Wright State 9, Northern Kentucky 5
Blocks: Wright State 4, Northern Kentucky 2
Fouls: Wright State 20, Northern Kentucky 21
Records: Wright State 12-8 (6-3 Horizon League), Northern Kentucky 3-14 (1-7 Horizon League)