The Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team cruised to a second-straight double-digit victory after defeating Oakland on Sunday, 80-64.
The Roush twins, Courtney and Christine, combined for half of NKU’s points after combining for 53 in their previous game.
Christine Roush finished with a game-high 24 points for the second-straight game and added six rebounds while her sister, Courtney Roush, finished with 16 points. Kasey Uetrecht, Molly Franson, Molly Glick, and Rebecca Lyttle all added 8 points. Taylor Jones was the leading scorer for Oakland (14-12, 6-9 Horizon League) with 13 points.
The game started quickly for both teams as Rianna Gayheart stole the ball after Oakland won the tip and Molly Glick drained a quick three for NKU to take the early 3-0 lead. The hot shooting continued for NKU early as Gayheart made a three-point basket and Kasey Uetrecht laid it in to take an 8-5 lead on their way to a 17-17 tie with Oakland after the Golden Grizzlies battled back to tie the game after the first quarter.
The Roush twins once again began to take over the game in the second quarter as they combined for 21 of NKU’s 27 points in the period. Christine Roush scored 11 points in the second quarter while Courtney Roush scored 10 points for the Norse. Molly Glick, Rebecca Lyttle, and Shar’Rae Davis each scored two points as NKU took a 13 point lead, 44-31 over Oakland, into the locker room.
The third quarter was only an extension of the previous two for the Norse as they continued to grow their lead to as much as 26 points over Oakland. The Golden Grizzlies battled back and played with more urgency in the fourth quarter to decrease the Norse lead to as little as 15 points with three minutes left to play. The Norse were helped in the fourth quarter by six points from Franson as the Norse defeated the Golden Grizzlies, 80-64.
NKU, now 16-9 overall and 8-6 in Horizon League play, hits the road for the final time in the regular season on Thursday, taking on Milwaukee. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. Eastern with the action carried live on ESPN3.
Norse Notes
· Christine and Courtney Roush combined for 40 points in the Norse’s 80-64 victory over Oakland. In NKU’s previous game against Detroit, which the Norse won 81-60, the Roush twins combined for 53 points.
· Four players scored eight points for the Norse. Franson, Glick, Uetrecht, and Lyttle all finished with eight points.
· NKU finished with 17 steals on the game, the most for the Norse in a Horizon League contest this season. Rianna Gayheart and Shar’Rae Davis each had four steals in the game.
NKU men’s rally falls short in loss to Wright State
A gutsy Norse rally down the stretch came up short, as Northern Kentucky fell on the road to Wright State, 67-64.
Facing a 13-point deficit with 9:08 left in the game, Northern Kentucky (9-18, 5-11 Horizon) turned the game around. It started with seven-straight points that began with five from Cole Murray and concluded with two from Todd Johnson.
Tyler White later went on a personal 7-1 run that included an unconventional four-point play to get NKU within four, 60-56, with six minutes left.
Following a Wright State (17-12, 11-5 Horizon) layup from Joe Thomasson, Jake Giesler converted the old-fashioned three-point play. Another Wright State layup came before a 5-1 Norse run in which White scored four more points pulled NKU within a point, 64-65, with 44 seconds left.
Northern Kentucky came up with the stop it needed when Giesler picked off JT Yoho’s pass in the lane with just 17 ticks on the clock.
White raced up the right sideline, but Thomasson was able to deflect the ball and come away with the steal. He was fouled and converted both to make it a three-point game. White’s three as the horn sound hit the back flange of the rim and skirted just over the front.
White finished with a game-high 21 points. He also had a team-high four rebounds. Murray and Drew McDonald finished with 11 points apiece.
McDonald capped a 7-2 run to close the opening stanza with a layin just before the buzzer, but Northern Kentucky trailed 32-27 at the break. McDonald led all scorers at intermission with 10.
Michael Karena scored 17 points to lead Wright State. Grant Benzinger added 16 and Thomasson registered 10 points and eight boards.
One road trip remains in the regular-season for the Norse, a jaunt to Northern Ohio for a pair of Horizon League games at Cleveland State and Youngstown State on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
Northern Kentucky then makes its first appearance in the Little Caesar’s Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship on March 5.
Norse Notes
· White’s 20-point performance was his sixth of the season and second in the last three games.
· Murray entered the game shooting 47.2 percent from three –which ranks seventh in the nation – and put forth a 3-for-6 effort.
· Dean Danos knocked down 3-of-4 attempts, including both of his three-point attempts. He is now 21-of-39 (53.8 percent) on the year.
From NKU Athletics