FIRST D-1 HOME GAME PROGRAM (11 x 17 PDF)
2012-13 NKU women's basketball digital media guide
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – It's been eight years since the Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team lost a home opener, and the Norse are perfect (4-0) in that category since moving into The Bank of Kentucky Center in 2008.
That should give NKU fans reason to hope for the best Tuesday night when unbeaten Youngstown State (4-0) visits The Bank of Kentucky Center in the Norse's first-ever Division I home game at 7 p.m. The first 500 fans in attendance Tuesday night will also receive a free Norse team poster, an item that could be a great piece of memorabilia if NKU can pull the upset over the visiting Penguins.
You probably know the story by now: NKU (0-4) is looking for its first win after dropping road games at Cincinnati, Miami (Ohio), Western Kentucky and Loyola (Chicago). Not surprising since the Norse are in their first season playing in Division I.
Youngstown State, a very talented team with an outstanding post player in Brandi Brown (21.0 points, 14.3 rebounds per game), is fresh off handing Miami (Ohio) a 76-56 defeat in Oxford, Ohio, on Sunday. The same Miami team that defeated NKU by 11 points (63-52) earlier this season.
Comparing the scores for common opponents is useless in college basketball, though, as every team has different strengths, weaknesses and motivation. On Tuesday night, both teams will have plenty of motivation.
Youngstown State wants to keep its early-season momentum going full-steam ahead, and the last thing the Penguins want to do is be remembered as NKU's first win as a Division I program.
NKU, on the other hand, would like to extend that home-opener winning streak to eight. The Norse's last loss in a home opener came on Nov. 16, 2004, when NAIA powerhouse Georgetown (Ky.) walked out of Regents Hall with an 85-64 win over NKU. Current NKU assistant coach
Karmen Graham, then a sophomore, started for the Norse in that game and netted seven points and four rebounds.
Enough of the history lesson, though. NKU would like nothing better than to get that first win, because it's no fun seeing “0” on the left side of the W/L column. Now in its 39th season of competition, the NKU women's basketball program has collected 809 victories and captured NCAA Division II national championships in 2000 and '08.
No one said this would be an easy transition for any of the NKU teams in 2012-13. With the exception of the Norse volleyball team, which put together a mind-numbing 25-7 record this fall – a feat bordering on supernatural for a reclassifying program playing nothing but Division I opponents – everything has gone as expected. It just takes time.
Now, the question is: Can the Norse women's basketball team do something unexpected Tuesday night? Only time will tell.
NORSE NOTES: The NKU women are 52-7 all-time in The Bank of Kentucky Center, which opened in time for the 2008-09 season. The Norse were 13-1 in The Bank of Kentucky Center last season, with the only loss a 66-60 setback against Wisconsin-Parkside on Jan. 19, 2012.
