NKyTribune staff
Northern Kentucky placed 11 players in the scoring column Tuesday night and cruised to a 94-47 win over Detroit Mercy in the first round of the women’s basketball Horizon League Tournament at BB&T Arena.
Carissa Garcia scored 17 points to lead NKU, which improved to 19-11. The fourth-seeded Norse shot 50 percent from the field and defeated the ninth-seeded Titans (3-27 overall record) for the third time this season.
NKU is 9-3 all-time in the series with Detroit Mercy and has beaten the Titans eight consecutive times.
The Norse used a 24-2 advantage in points off turnovers to key the win and held the visitors to just 36 percent shooting from the field.
Detroit Mercy finished with just three assists and turned the ball over 20 times.
Prior to Tuesday night, the last time NKU scored at least 90 points was on Nov. 25, 2017, during a 103-25 win against Oakland City. The victory on Tuesday night also marked the first time the Norse surpassed the 90-point plateau against a Division I opponent.
NKU will play host to No. 5 seed Milwaukee (15-15 overall record) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals. The winner of that game will advance to next week’s Horizon League Tournament semifinals in Indianapolis.
HORIZON LEAGUE MEN’S TOURNEY UNDERWAY: Oakland, Illinois-Chicago and Youngstown State all posted wins Tuesday night during the opening round of the men’s basketball Horizon League Tournament.
Sixth-seeded Oakland (an 80-59 winner over Cleveland State) advanced to play at No. 3 seed Green Bay — which earned a first-round bye — on Thursday. Fourth-seeded UIC (a 93-59 winner over IUPUI) will play host to No. 5 seed Youngstown State (a 63-57 winner over Milwaukee) in the other Thursday game.
Top-seeded Wright State and No. 2 seed NKU received byes into the semifinals, which begin March 9 in Indianapolis. Wright State will meet the lowest-remaining seed at 7 p.m., while NKU will play the highest-remaining seed at 9:30 p.m.
(Information compiled from NKU Athletics Communications and staff reports)