The Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team (7-4) has had several games like this.
The Norse come out playing hard-nosed defense taking opponents deep into the shot clock, making them take uncomfortable shots, snag the rebound then convert at the other end, thus building a huge lead. But this one led to a signature 72-52 win over the University of Cincinnati (7-6) at Truist Arena on Wednesday. The Norse have won four in a row and moved to 6-2 in home games this year with the win.
The Norse had graduate student guard Lindsey Duvall and senior guard Ivy Turner score their 1,000th career points in the win. Duvall had her fifth straight double-double and seventh of the season scoring 11 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to go with four steals. Turner had 15 points, five assists and five rebounds.
“I’m just really proud of these two,” said Camryn Whitaker, Northern Kentucky head coach. “I know that they don’t care about their points. They just care if we win. But I just told the team in the locker room I don’t give these two enough credit probably in front of the team because I just expect them to do it all the time, and they do. They’re very consistent. We would not be where we are right now without these two. They really love it here. You can’t coach that kind of compassion. Credit to their parents and how they were raised, and who they are as people.”
The Norse displayed their usual balance building a 35-14 halftime lead. Sophomore guard Kailee Davis had 15 points, five assists and five rebounds with graduate student forward/center Emmy Souder recording 14 points, six rebounds and one steal. Junior guard Kennedy Igo came off the bench and made three triples on her way to nine points and sophomore guard Khamari Mitchell-Steen had eight points and one assist.
“I know Coach (Whitaker) gets on me sometimes when I’m not being aggressive and looking for my shot,” Turner said. “I just feed off Kailee or feed off Lindsey if they’re going. I know defenses are trying to stop them.”
The biggest difference in this game came in the turnover department. Northern Kentucky outscored Cincinnati, 28-12 in points off turnovers recording 11 steals off 18 Bearcat turnovers while yielding just six steals off 11 turnovers.
The Norse shot 45 percent from the field including 42 percent from three-point range and 67 percent from the free-throw line. The Bearcats made 34 percent from the field including 20 percent from three-point range and 64 percent from the free-throw line. In the first half, Northern Kentucky shot 39 percent from the field compared to 23 percent for Cincinnati.
The Norse also had 15 assists to eight for the Bearcats. They consistently made good plays after making mistakes.
“I feel like we’re a very mature team,” Duvall said. “We have a lot of returners and I think that really shows when we play. We always try to make sure we don’t make two, three mistakes in a row so I think that’s been a big key for us.”
Cincinnati won the rebounding battle, 40-37 including a 16-12 advantage on the offensive glass. But the Norse still outscored the Bearcats, 10-8 in second-chance points.
Junior guard Jillian Hayes and senior guard Mya Jackson came into the game leading the Bearcats averaging 15 and 13.4 points per game. Jackson finished with 17 points and Jackson had 16. But Jackson did not score in the first half.
“We had a game plan and we followed it to a T,” Whitaker said. “We recruited (Hayes and Jackson) for a long time. I knew they’d come in and have a big night. Jillian is a really good player who does not take a lot of outside shots so we were just trying to keep her in front and anytime the ball went inside to her, we were trying to dig and help off of some of the perimeter players. We were also trying to play solid defense on (Jackson), keep her in front, not let her get anything easy. Our defensive goal is always just try to force people to take shots outside the paint that are contested. We kept them under 30 points in the paint and we had 34 so that’s good for us.”
The Norse scored the game’s first 12 points and never let the lead slip below double digits. Hayes hit a jumper with 5:35 left in the first quarter for the first Cincinnati bucket of the game.
NKU finished the non-league portion of the schedule 6-3. The Norse return to action Dec. 28 against Wright State (1-11) at 7 p.m.
Florida Atlantic 67, NKU men 52
The Norse (7-6) ran into a buzzsaw in Florida against the Owls (11-1).
NKU held Florida Atlantic to its season-low point total after the Owls came into the game averaging 82.2 points per game good for 27th in the country. But the Norse struggled on the offensive end, shooting 36 percent from the field, 26 percent from three and 56 percent from the free-throw line.
Junior guard Marques Warrick led the Norse with 18 points and three rebounds, three assists and a steal. It marks the 11th time Warrick has finished with double-digit points.
Fifth-year forward Chris Brandon scored nine points making all four shots from the field to go with seven rebounds and a steal. Junior guard Trey Robinson had eight points, four rebounds and two steals and sophomore point guard Sam Vinson had seven points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Northern Kentucky returns home for a Horizon League game against Wright State (6-6) at 7 p.m. on Dec. 29.