The fifth-seeded Northern Kentucky women’s basketball team (17-14) entered the Horizon League semifinals at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum hoping to overcome a huge obstacle since joining the Horizon League in 2015.
The Norse had been to the semifinal round two other times, falling just a few plays short in losses to Green Bay in overtime in 2016, then by one point to the Phoenix in 2020. They once again had their chances, but once again came up short in a tight 63-60 overtime loss to the Cleveland State Vikings (29-4) on Monday.
Northern Kentucky hoped to win the rubber match after splitting the two games during the regular season. The Norse beat the Vikings, 73-69 at Truist Arena on Jan. 22 before host Cleveland State won the Feb. 16 meeting, 57-56.
“I’m really proud of our team,” said Camryn Whitaker, Northern Kentucky head coach. “Like many teams in the country like we’ve all faced in the past couple years with COVID, there’s just been a lot of adversity. It’s been a long season for us. We started off going to Greece in August. These kids have been going since July. There hasn’t been a day that they haven’t given us everything that they have. I think you saw the exact same thing on the court (Monday). I’m just really proud of how our student-athletes represent our university and how they represent themselves, their parents and themselves. I couldn’t be more proud to be their coach every day. I’ve been blessed every day. Obviously, somebody’s got to win and somebody’s going to lose and we came out on the other end.”
The Norse had a chance thanks to their defense. Northern Kentucky forced one of the Horizon League’s top offenses into 23 turnovers and just nine assists.
The Norse outscored the Vikings, 23-17 in points off turnovers with 11 steals and 30-26 in points in the paint.
Graduate student guard Lindsey Duvall left everything on the court with 21 points, nine rebounds and three assists in her 12th, 20-point performance of the season playing all 45 minutes.
“I’m really proud of everybody,” Duvall said. “I think we fought to the end. I know we didn’t get the outcome we wanted. But I think we can all be proud of how we played. Not everything went our way. That’s one of the good things about basketball. You never know what’s going to come out of it. I really love my teammates and (Monday) was really fun. It just stinks with the outcome. It’s just basketball.”
Senior guard Ivy Turner had 11 points, four steals and two assists. Sophomore point guard Kailee Davis had 10 points, four assists and three rebounds.
The Vikings did however use their size to win the rebounding battle, 37-25. Senior forward Brittni Moore led the Vikings with 10 rebounds to go with 12 points for a double-double.
The Horizon League Player of the year in Cleveland State 5-10 junior guard Destiny made 9-of-15 shots for 60%, including five 3-pointers on her way to 25 points. Senior guard Gabrielle Smith added 14 as both teams had three players score in double figures.
“When shots aren’t falling, I have to get stops on defense,” Turner said. “The coaches asked a lot for me to guard Leo. She’s a good player so I just to do what I could do to help out the team.”
Northern Kentucky made 41 percent from the field, but struggled outside making just 6-of-26 three-point tries and just 4-of-9 free throws. Cleveland State hit 24-of-52 shots and 8-of-16 from the 3-point line.
“What an amazing college basketball game,” said Chris Kielsmeier, Cleveland State head coach. “Both teams really, really, really wanted to win and we were basically lucky to make one more play than they did. But you have to give Northern Kentucky a ton of credit. They were ready to play. They played really hard. They played great and we just persevered and found a way. I’m really proud of our team, proud of the city of Cleveland with how many lives we’ve been able to impact through the game of basketball.”
The Vikings came out strong scoring the game’s first nine points as the Norse struggled against Cleveland State’s 2-3 zone defense. But things changed with Cleveland State up 11-2 with 7:01 left in the first quarter. Northern Kentucky found its offensive rhythm going on a 15-0 run to go up 17-11 with 2:29 left in the first quarter. The Norse led 19-13 entering the second quarter after sophomore guard Khamari Mitchell-Steen hit a jumper with 1:10 left in the quarter.
“During that first run, we just kept talking about getting stops on defense,” Whitaker said. “It’s just our philosophy as a team. Defense travels. We can always control how we defend. I believe we got four stops in a row. We keep track of that on the bench. That allows us to get out in transition, which is what we do well.”
Northern Kentucky extended its lead to 10 twice in the second quarter including a 32-22 advantage with 2:20 left after a Duvall triple. But the Vikings finished the half scoring five points in the final 42 seconds including a Leo three to trim it to 32-27 at halftime.
Leo came out and scored the first two buckets of the third quarter to trim the lead Norse lead to 32-31. But Northern Kentucky held the lead until Moore scored with 5:56 left to make it 38-37 Cleveland State. Points came at a premium the rest of the quarter. But Mitchell-Steen hit two free throws with 1:03 left to make it 40-39 Cleveland State entering the fourth quarter.
Davis and Duvall connected on consecutive threes to put Northern Kentucky up 45-40 with nine minutes left in the game. The Norse held the lead until the Vikings tied it at 49 with 4:17 left. Leo gave the Vikings a 54-51 lead with a contested three with 1:19 left. But Duvall tied it with a three with eight seconds left. The Vikings did not get a shot off a shot to finish regulation sending the game to overtime.
Leo’s 3-pointer built Cleveland State to a 59-54 lead in the first minute of OT and never relinquished that lead. Davis hit a three to make the final score with 2:20 left. But after missing two free throws, Davis had the chance to tie the game at 63 with two seconds left in overtime. But her shot did not fall.
The Norse lose four seniors of the roster. Duvall, Turner, senior forward Tayah Irvin and graduate student center/forward Emmy Souder.