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Sat., Feb. 1
Highland Heights, Ky. – The Bank of Kentucky Center (9,400)
NKU (10-9 overall, 6-2 A-Sun) vs. Florida Gulf Coast (14-6 overall, 8-0 A-Sun)
Series Record: FGCU leads 2-0
Last Meeting: FGCU 68, NKU 53 (Feb. 18, 2013)
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team concludes its homestand with a 7 p.m. contest against Atlantic Sun Conference leader Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday at The Bank of Kentucky Center.
NKU fell to 10-9 overall and 6-2 in the Atlantic Sun Conference after suffering a 90-66 loss to Stetson at The Bank of Kentucky Center Thursday.
Lauren White finished with a career-high 23 points, leading the way for NKU. She finished 7-for-12 from the floor and knocked down five 3-point field goals.
Christine Roush extended her double-figure scoring streak to seven games with a 12-point performance, while
Kayla Thacker added 11 for the Norse.
FGCU, which has not lost a regular-season Atlantic Sun game since dropping a 75-74 decision at USC Upstate on Feb. 28, 2011, enters the contest 14-6 overall and 8-0 in the Atlantic Sun after cruising to an 85-67 victory at Lipscomb Thursday evening. Sarah Hansen, who was named the preseason Atlantic Sun Player of the Year after earning the same postseason honor last year, scored 18 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots to lead the Eagles, while Kaneisha Atwater added 14 points on 4-for-8 shooting from the floor.
Hansen leads the FGCU offence, averaging 13.7 points per game, and she pulls down a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game. Whitney Knight adds 12.8 points, while Stephanie Haas averages 12.0 per game for the Eagles. Jenna Cobb has dished out 53 assists as Knight has turned away 57 shots on the year, which ranks third in the Atlantic Sun.
As a team, FGCU leads the Atlantic Sun in scoring defense, only surrendering 61.3 points per game while limiting 52.6 to conference opponents. The Eagles are shooting 33.2 percent from behind the 3-point arc to rank second in the conference. FGCU blocks 3.8 shots a game and dishes out 12.9 assists, collectively.
Links to live stats, the ASun.TV broadcast and Andrew Kappes' audio broadcast will be available at nkunorse.com.
LAST TIME AGAINST FLORIDA GULF COAST: Sarah Hansen scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds on Feb. 18, 2013, as FGCU defeated NKU, 68-53, at The Bank of Kentucky Center in the last meeting between the two programs.
Joyce Iamstrong added 16 points and seven rebounds for FGCU. The Eagles were 10-for-32 from 3-point range to snap NKU's four-game winning streak.
NKU stayed close to the visiting Eagles most of the first half despite shooting 24 percent from the field and turning the ball over 13 times. FGCU, however, closed the half with a 15-5 run to take a 27-17 lead into the locker room.
The Eagles held that 10-point lead even though they had shot just 28.6 percent from the field during the opening 20 minutes of play.
FGCU opened the second half with a 13-6 spurt to build a 40-23 advantage when Iamstrong buried a 3-pointer with 16:06 left in the game. The Eagles led by as many as 19 points to improve to 2-0 all-time against the Norse.
Tiara Hopper scored 18 points to lead NKU. Hopper also grabbed nine rebounds, six of those on the offensive glass.
Ellen Holton and
Rianna Gayheart each scored 10 points, while
Kayla Thacker pulled down 10 rebounds for the Norse.
Gayheart added six rebounds and three steals, while Thacker blocked a pair of shots. The Norse shot 48.3 percent from the field in the second half and finished at 37 percent for the game.
WHITE'S CAREER NIGHT: Lauren White scored a career-high 23 points in NKU's loss to Stetson on Thursday evening, topping her previous best of 18 set against Western Kentucky on Nov. 23 at the Bank of Kentucky Center.
White has stepped up her contribution to the team since starting conference play. Through the first 11 games of the season, White averaged 6.1 points per contest, but she has scored 10.9 against Atlantic Sun opponents to raise her scoring average.
On the year, the freshman guard from Edwardsville, Ill., is contributing 8.1 points for the Norse. She has appeared in every game this season and averages 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists.
GIVE AND TAKE: Christine Roush's 12-point performance against Stetson extended her double-figure scoring streak to seven games. In addition to her points, the sophomore guard from Louisville, Ky., also dished out a season-high six assists against the Hatters, which finished just one shy of her career high in that category.
Roush averages 9.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game this season. She leads the Atlantic Sun in free-throw percentage at 90.4 percent (47-for-52) and 3-point shooting at 49.0 percent (24-for-49).
IMPROVING AT THE LINE: Before starting conference play,
Kelley Wiegman was struggling from the free-throw line, having connected on just 63 percent (33-for-52) of her attempts. Wiegman has since improved her free-throw percentage to 71.9 by shooting 81.8 percent (36-for-44) from the charity stripe against Atlantic Sun teams.
Overall, the freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio, averages 6.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and a team-high 2.3 assists per game, which ranks eighth among conference competitors. She leads the team with 44 total assists and 25 steals.
FORCING TURNOVERS: NKU forced Stetson into 20 turnovers on Thursday evening at The Bank of Kentucky Center. It marked the sixth time this season that the Norse have caused their opponent into 20 or more miscues. Overall this season, NKU has forced 338 turnovers from the other team, which lands third in the Atlantic Sun.
The Norse rank second in the conference in turnover margin. NKU has turned the ball over 271 times (14.3 per game) to their opponents' 338 (17.8 per game) on the year for a +3.53 advantage.
JANUARY SUCCESS: NKU finished the month of January with a 6-2 record as the Norse began Atlantic Sun play. Last season, the Norse went 4-4 to start 2013 with wins against South Carolina Upstate, East Tennessee State, Lipscomb and Kennesaw State, all at home. NKU dropped road decisions to North Florida, Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson along with a 77-67 decision to Mercer at The Bank of Kentucky Center.
This season, the Norse started the month with a five-game winning streak before dropping two of the last three games of January. The only two setbacks in 2014 came against Jacksonville on Jan. 18 and Stetson Thursday.
NEARING HALFWAY: Saturday's game against Florida Gulf Coast marks the last conference opponent NKU has not faced this season. The Norse captured wins on the road against South Carolina Upstate, East Tennessee State and North Florida while they defeated Mercer, Kennesaw State and Lipscomb at The Bank of Kentucky Center.
SATURDAY'S PROMOTIONS: Saturday night is Scout Night at The Bank of Kentucky Center. Scouts who come to the NKU-FGCU game in uniform will receive free admission and $3 tickets for their family members. Girl Scout cookie contests will take place during the game, courtesy of the Kentucky Wilderness Council.
Following the game, the women's third Shoot Around Saturday will take place. Girls in eighth grade and below and boys in sixth grade and below are invited to participate. They will have 30 seconds to shoot from designated spots on the floor. The participants will then have the opportunity to receive team autographs. The remaining dates for the Shoot Around Saturdays include:
Feb. 8 – Men vs. USC Upstate, 7 p.m.
Feb. 15 – Women vs. Jacksonville, 7 p.m.
