The short-handed Northern Kentucky women’s basketball team faced the defending league champions to start Horizon League play Saturday.
The Norse battled visiting Cleveland State, but another tough start left them with another loss. The Vikings outscored the Norse, 18-7 in the first quarter and came away with a 72-60 win at Truist Arena.
Cleveland State outrebounded Northern Kentucky, 33-23 including a 26-19 advantage on the defensive glass. Carmen Villalobos grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Vikings while no one had more than four for the Norse.
Northern Kentucky was again saddled with a seven-player rotation. All five starters played at least 32 minutes with Macey Blevins playing all 40.
“We’re trying to fight through that,” said Camryn Whitaker-Volz, Northern Kentucky head coach. “Obviously when you’re playing six, seven players, fatigue sets in. We got off to a slow start. I told the kids at halftime we’re probably not going to win very many games shooting 1-for-14 from the three-point line. These kids are getting a lot of valuable experience so when we do get healthy, it’ll benefit our team.”
Both teams put three players in double figures. Guard Allison Basye made four three-pointers on her way to 18 points to lead the Norse.
“I knew we were down and we needed to bring some energy so I just kept shooting,” Basye said. “If I’m open, I’m going to shoot it – anything to help get the team back into the game.”
Carter McCray continued her solid play in the post with 15 points and Blevins scored 10. Noelle Hubert added nine points.
“I just feel like it was practice. All week we worked on looking high post, looking opposite and it was open every single time I faced up. Either Carter was open or the win,” Blevins said. “Then in the second half once we made a few three’s, everyone was getting more confident so it was great.”
Colbi Maples led Cleveland State with 23 points. Mickayla Perdue and Jordana Reisma added 13 points each. The Vikings played without the injured reigning Horizon League player of the year Destiny Leo.
Cleveland State led 39-18 at halftime. Northern Kentucky outscored the Vikings, 42-33 in the second half. The closest the Norse got in the second half was 10 at 68-58 with 32 seconds left in the game when Basye hit a jumper.
Northern Kentucky heads to Illinois (4-2) on Wednesday for a 4:30 p.m. game.