Atlantic Sun Weekly Notes |
Game 16 Notes |
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Thurs., Jan. 16
Jacksonville, Fla. – UNF Arena (5,800)
NKU (8-7 overall, 4-0 A-Sun) vs. North Florida (4-10 overall, 0-3 A-Sun)
Series Record: Tied at 1-all
Last Meeting: NKU 57, UNF 44 (Feb. 28, 2013)
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team travels to Jacksonville, Fla., this week for a pair of Atlantic Sun Conference games, tipping off with a 7 p.m. contest against North Florida at the UNF Arena on Thursday.
NKU stretched its winning streak to four games and improved to 8-7 overall, 4-0 in the Atlantic Sun as the Norse cruised to a 79-51 victory over Kennesaw State Saturday.
Melody Doss scored 22 points, grabbed five rebounds and collected two steals to lead the NKU effort, while
Sarah Kinch finished with a career-high 16 points and six rebounds for the Norse.
Christine Roush added 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor, and
Kelley Wiegman topped her career best with six assists.
North Florida enters the contest looking for its first conference victory. The Ospreys are 0-3 in the Atlantic Sun and 4-10 on the year after suffering a 74-42 defeat at Jacksonville. Paulina Zaveckaite recorded 10 points and seven rebounds to lead North Florida, which committed 28 turnovers on the day, while Ki Conner added seven points and Bailey Florin dished out a team-high three assists.
Destinee Smith, who was limited to two points against Jacksonville, averages 10.6 points per game and has recorded 33 assists to lead the Ospreys offensively. Zaveckaite leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 7.7 boards per game, while Larkira Jones has blocked a team-high 16 shots to rank fifth in the Atlantic Sun.
As a team, North Florida leads the conference in scoring defense, limiting their opponents to just 60.9 points per game, including a season-low 40 to Air Force on Dec. 20. The Ospreys hold a +4.1 rebounding margin (39.5 rpg vs. 35.4 rpg), while only allowing the opposing team to 38.3 percent shooting from the floor, which both rank second in the Atlantic Sun.
Links to live stats, the ASun.TV broadcast and Andrew Kappes' audio broadcast will be available at nkunorse.com.
LAST TIME AGAINST NORTH FLORIDA: NKU ensured its 30th consecutive winning season with a 57-44 victory over North Florida at The Bank of Kentucky Center on Feb. 28, 2013.
The Norse jumped out to an early 23-2 lead and led the entire game to clinch a winning record in the team's first season competing as an NCAA Division I program.
Christine Roush scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Norse. She buried a trio of 3-pointers in the first half and added two assists.
Rianna Gayheart added 13 points, five rebounds and three steals for NKU, while
Kayla Thacker added eight points and 11 rebounds.
The Norse held North Florida to 14.8 percent shooting in the first half to build a 28-10 lead at the break. The Ospreys started the game 1-for-22 from the field and never recovered.
Ellen Holton started the Norse attack in the first half with inside baskets that were assisted by
Jaimie Hamlet for a 4-0 NKU lead. Ki Conner responded with a jumper to make it 4-2, but the Ospreys would go the next 12 minutes without a point as the Norse built a 23-2 advantage.
Destinee Smith scored 16 points to lead North Florida, which finished at 30.8 percent shooting from the field. Conner added 15 points for the Ospreys, who had defeated the Norse earlier in the season, 59-55, in Jacksonville, Fla., in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
NKU, which evened the all-time series between the two programs at 1-all with the win, shot 36.5 percent from the field and won the battle of the boards by one (41-40).
TAKING CARE OF TEAMMATES: Over the last four games, freshman guard
Kelley Wiegman has averaged 4.3 assists per game after beginning the season recording 1.7 during non-conference play. She topped her personal best two consecutive games with five against Mercer on Thursday and six assists against Kennesaw State on Saturday. In conference play, Wiegman has dished out 17 assists and her 4.3 average ranks seventh among Atlantic Sun opponents, while collecting 36 (2.4 apg) on the year.
CAREER NIGHT FOR KINCH: Sarah Kinch put together a career-high performance against Kennesaw State. She poured in 16 points, all in the second half, and pulled down six rebounds to top her personal bests in both categories. The freshman guard from Medina, Ohio, finished 7-for-9 from the floor and connected on one 3-point field goal attempt. Kinch also collected one assist and two steals in 18 minutes of action against the Owls.
BENCH SCORING: NKU's bench players combined for a season-high 36 of its 79 total points against Kennesaw State, led by
Sarah Kinch's career-high 16-point performance.
Lauren White added eight points off the bench, while
Rianna Gayheart added five and
Morgan Blair contributed four on a perfect 2-for-2 from the floor.
Courtney Roush connected on the only shot she attempted to round out the reserve's scoring with three points on the night.
The Norse bench added 34 points in a 67-63 loss to Ball State on Dec. 21. White led all scorers with 17 points, while Morgan scored a career-high eight.
Kaitlyn Gerrety came off the bench for NKU against the Cardinals and finished the night with nine points.
TOP SCORING AVERAGE: Through the first four Atlantic Sun games of the season, the Norse are averaging 75 points per game, which is tied for first with Stetson. NKU poured in 76 points against South Carolina Upstate on Jan. 2 to open conference play and followed with a 73-point effort at East Tennessee State two days later. The Norse opened play last week with 72 points against Mercer at The Bank of Kentucky Center on Thursday evening before posting a season-high 79 Saturday against Kennesaw State.
200 AS HEAD COACH: NKU's
Dawn Plitzuweit will take the floor for the 200th time as a head coach against North Florida Thursday night. Plitzuweit, who is in her second season with the Norse, guided NKU to their 30th consecutive winning season and a berth to the Women's Basketball Invitational with a 15-13 record in her first season with NKU during the 2012-13 season.
Overall, she owns a 140-59 (.704) career record after spending five seasons as the head coach at Grand Valley State University where she led the Lakers to four postseason berths, including the 2005-06 NCAA Division II national championship.
IMPRESSIVE RECORDS CONTINUE: With its 79-51 victory over Kennesaw State Saturday, NKU improved its season record in three separate categories. The Norse improved to 7-1 this season when leading at the half with a 25-21 advantage at the break, while they remained perfect (7-0) when scoring at least 70 points. NKU is now 5-0 on the year when winning the rebounding battle after outrebounding the Owls by a 41-34 margin.
