The Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team suffered an 84-65 setback against No. 10/11 Kentucky at BB&T Arena Wednesday evening despite a career performance from junior Sarah Kinch.
Kinch tied her career-high 16 points after posting 13 in the first half alone. Rianna Gayheart followed with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor, including a 4-of-5 performance from long range.
Kasey Uetrecht put together a complete game with eight points, four boards, three assists, two blocks and two steals.
Northern Kentucky (5-2) overcame a slow first quarter to lead Kentucky 41-37 at halftime to mark just the second time this season the Wildcats (7-0) have trailed at the half.
NKU was aggressive early but struggled to connect from the field, falling behind 9-0 in the first three minutes of action. Kinch got the Norse on the board, netting NKU’s first eight points as the Norse trailed 14-8 with just under four minutes to play in the first quarter.
In the second period Mikayla Terry, Christine Roush and Kinch combined to score eight uninterrupted points to spark a pivotal 14-3 Norse run where NKU held UK to just one field goal over a span of five minutes.
Kinch used the run to score her 13th point of the game on a jumper that handed NKU its first lead of the game at 30-29 with 5:21 remaining in the half.
The squads jockeyed for the lead with UK taking a brief 37-34 advantage before Gayheart tied it up on a triple that keyed seven-straight points to conclude the first half. The Norse held the Wildcats to just 13 total points throughout the second quarter for the 41-37 edge at halftime.
Kentucky returned to the court with energy, scoring 13-straight to overcome its deficit and lead 52-45 at the 5:44 mark.
The Norse battled to stay within single digits throughout the third but trailed 61-52 heading to the final quarter. An 8-2 Wildcat run to open the final period put the game out of reach of NKU despite six points from Kasey Uetrecht in the fourth quarter.
NKU continues its seven-game homestand on Saturday, Dec. 5 when it hosts IPFW at 7 p.m. at BB&T Arena.
NORSE NOTES:
– The loss halted NKU’s four-game unbeaten streak at BB&T Arena to open the season.
– Both of NKU’s top scorers, Kinch and Gayheart, reached double-figures off the bench to help NKU out-score UK 37-19 in bench points.
– The game was played in front of a crowd of 4,084 at BB&T Arena, marking the largest crowd for a regular-season game for the NKU women.
From NKU Athletics