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CINCINNATI – Welcome to the world of Division I basketball, Northern Kentucky University.
NKU officially became a part of big-time college basketball Friday night when the Norse women tipped off the season at the University of Cincinnati. The taller, quicker Bearcats rallied from an early 14-6 deficit and handed NKU a 49-31 loss in Fifth Third Arena.
Playing for the first time in four years without All-America guard
Casse Mogan (1,579 career points), NKU struggled offensively Friday night. The Norse shot just 26.1 percent from the field and watched the bigger Bearcats finish with a 41-28 edge in rebounding, 16 of those on the offensive glass. NKU also turned the ball over 23 times and was 3-for-19 from 3-point range.
“I think our kids played their hearts out. It was an 11-point game up until the last few minutes of the game, and I thought they did an incredible job defensively,” NKU head coach
Dawn Plitzuweit said. “Unfortunately, our offense wasn't quite ready yet, but it will get there. You couldn't have asked our kids to play any harder, and I was proud of their effort.”
Cincinnati struggled from the field as well, making just 29.4 percent of its shots. The Bearcats converted 16-of-22 free throws, while NKU finished 4-for-8 from the line.
It snapped a streak of seven consecutive season-opening victories for the Norse, who are now 28-11 all-time in openers.
Dayeesha Hollins scored 17 points and collected four steals as Cincinnati won its season opener. The Bearcats held NKU (0-1) scoreless the final 7:25 of the first half to turn a 16-13 deficit into a 24-16 lead at the break.
The Norse finally stopped the scoring drought at the 16:45 mark of the second half when
Tiara Hopper converted an inside basket, cutting the Cincinnati lead to 25-18. Hopper followed that with another score while being fouled, and NKU trailed by just five points (25-20) with 15 minutes remaining in the game.
Cincinnati, however, scored the next 12 points to build a 37-20 advantage and take control of the game. Hollins keyed the Bearcat spurt with eight points.
Hopper scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds for NKU.
Kayla Thacker and
Ellen Holton each added six points for the Norse.
Freshman guard
Christine Roush scored NKU's first point as a Division I program by making the second of two free throws just 17 seconds into the game. Senior guard
Jaimie Hamlet netted the first basket by floating in a runner at the 17:49 mark of the first half.
A 3-pointer by sophomore center
Kaitlyn Gerrety midway through the first half gave NKU a 14-6 lead. Cincinnati countered with an 18-2 run during the final 10 minutes of the first half, including an 11-0 spurt to end the opening period.
“In the beginning we were really aggressive, we contained penetration which was the game plan,” Thacker said. “We aren't happy because we didn't win, but we're proud of our effort.”
Tiffany Turner and Jeanise Randolph each grabbed nine rebounds for Cincinnati, which evened the all-time series with NKU at eight wins apiece. The two programs had not played in the regular season since No. 29, 1986, when NKU pulled out a 64-63 victory against Cincinnati.
“First off my hat's off to and credit goes to Northern Kentucky and Dawn [Plitzuweit]. They lost a lot to graduation. They are still a hardworking, scrappy Northern Kentucky team," Cincinnati head coach Jamelle Elliott said. "I wouldn't have expected anything less from her coming from a good program like Michigan where they've gone to the NCAA Tournament quite a bit. She's been successful as a head coach.
"I think she's going to do a great job with that program. They came in and really gave us a run for our money for the better part of the first half. Luckily they had a hard time scoring - a harder time than we had scoring because we had a hard time scoring as well."
NKU visits Oxford, Ohio, on Monday to take on Miami (Ohio) at 7 p.m.
