Things may not have looked good late for the Northern Kentucky women’s basketball team down 64-53 with 3:43 left in the road game at the Milwaukee Panthers, but the Norse showed resiliency making four 3-pointers during that span to come back and stun the hosts, 67-66 for the Horizon League win on Saturday.
Northern Kentucky moved to 7-16 overall and 5-9 in Horizon League play, splitting the series with the Panthers. Milwaukee fell to 14-12 overall and 8-7 in league play. The Norse sit in ninth place in league play needing to surpass one more team to host a first round tournament game on March 5.
“The team never gave up,” Northern Kentucky head coach Camryn Volz said. “We got stops when we needed to. We felt like even though we were down, we still felt like we could come out and win the game so I was proud of the team and how they handled that. Obviously to pick up a win on this road trip is always good for us.”
Noelle Hubert and Khamari Mitchell-Steen both made two 3-pointers during the run and Carter McCray hit a jumper in the paint. Mitchell-Steen hit the game-winner with 51 seconds left and Northern Kentucky’s defense came through after that.
“Just recently in the past couple games, (Northern Kentucky assistant coach Doug Novak) has been like, ‘Your shot’s flat’ so I’ve been getting the gym working on getting that arc back,” Hubert said. “My shot had plenty of arc. That had a good reflection of my work put in.”
After a Milwaukee turnover, the Panthers elected not to foul and Macey Blevins tried to hit a layup in the paint, but it did not go and Milwaukee called a timeout with 2.7 seconds left. After more timeouts, Milwaukee’s Grace Crowley but up a contested shot against McCray that did not go in allowing the Norse to escape with their second road win of the season.
“It was a good team effort. We knew we had some fouls to give, but under three seconds is a little risky,” Volz said. “Someone could get the ball and try to fire it up quick thinking we’re going to foul then you send them to the free throw line. We just wanted to be solid and (Mitchell-Steen) helped a little bit off the in-bounder because two seconds is not much time to make many passes or dribble. Carter stayed between her man and the basket. I thought we did a nice job defending that last play.”
Hubert wound up leading the Norse with 18 points making six 3-pointers to go with three rebounds and two steals. Volz praised Hubert for her defense this season using her 5-11 length to her advantage.
“You can’t play off her,” Volz said. “Her teammates were looking for her too and finding her in open spots. She was confident. She just continues to work hard and get better each game. People forget she is still a freshman and still learning.”
The Norse put four players in double figures. Mitchell-Steen and McCray scored 16 points each and Blevins finished with 11. McCray recorded another double-double grabbing 10 rebounds.
Kamy Peppler and Jorey Buwalda torched the Norse for 24 and 18 points, respectively, in Milwaukee’s win at Truist Arena on Jan. 7. The Norse held Buwalda to 11 points and Peppler to six in this meeting.
The Panthers had others step forward. Anna Lutz scored 17 points with Crowley scoring 12.
Milwaukee won the rebounding battle, 38-28 including a 17-8 on the offensive glass, but Northern Kentucky still outscored the Panthers, 14-10 in second chance points. Crowley led the Panthers with nine rebounds.
Northern Kentucky started the game strong up 17-8 after the first quarter. The Norse led 32-29 at halftime before Milwaukee won the third quarter, 22-18 to go up 51-50.
Northern Kentucky hosts Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis on Wednesday at 7 p.m.