Ashanti Abshaw’s turnaround jumper as the final horn sounded was the last of her 32 points for the Cleveland State University women’s basketball team in a 64-62 win over Northern Kentucky University to close out the 2015-16 Horizon League regular season schedule at BB&T Arena.
The comeback spoiled a 26-point night for NKU senior Christine Roush, who went 9-for-19 from the floor and connected on five three-pointers on the night. Kasey Uetrecht added 17 points for the Norse, who finished the regular season at 17-12 overall and 9-9 in Horizon League play.
Abshaw completed the double-double with 14 rebounds for the Vikings (9-19, 6-12 Horizon), while Olivia Voskuhl added 15 points.
A 17-0 run over a five-minute stretch in the first quarter set the tone for the Norse as they jumped out to a 17-3 lead early. The Vikings found their shooting touch and pulled the deficit back to 10 points by quarter’s end at 21-11.
Roush scored 10 of NKU’s 14 points in the second quarter as the Norse hit a cold snap, missing on nine consecutive attempts. The Norse held Cleveland State to 15 points in the quarter, and went to the halftime break with a nine-point advantage at 35-26.
Abshaw found her shooting stroke in the second half, going 7-for-9 from the field for 21 points as Cleveland State outscored NKU in the third quarter, 22-15, to cut the Norse lead to 50-48 after 30 minutes.
The Norse got the lead back to six points at 62-56 with 6:32 to go, and after both teams struggled to find the basket over a 3:30 stretch, Cleveland State used its transition game to put together an 8-0 run to close out the contest.
The Horizon League now sets it sights on Green Bay, Wisconsin, where all 10 teams will converge on the Kress Events Center for the 2016 Horizon League Championship. The action begins on Thursday with the first round contests, all carried live on ESPN3. Sunday’s championship game will be televised live on ESPNU.
Pairings and game times will be announced.
NORSE NOTES
· NKU’s seed in the Horizon League Championship now depends on the result of Sunday’s Wright State-Youngstown State game. With a Wright State win, NKU will hold the No. 5 seed and take on Cleveland State in the first round. A Youngstown State win gives NKU the No. 6 seed, where the Norse will take on Oakland.
· With her 26-point effort, Christine Roush set a new single-season scoring record for NKU in the Division I era. The senior has scored 486 points on the year. With 1,405 career points, Roush also stands ninth on NKU’s career scoring list.
From NKU Athletics