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Thurs., Feb. 13
Highland Heights, Ky. – The Bank of Kentucky Center (9,400)
NKU (12-10 overall, 8-3 A-Sun) vs. North Florida (5-16 overall, 1-9 A-Sun)
Series Record: NKU leads 2-1
Last Meeting: NKU 57, UNF 51 (Jan. 16, 2014)
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team returns to The Bank of Kentucky Center for a pair of Atlantic Sun Conference games this week, starting with a 7 p.m. contest against North Florida on Thursday.
NKU is 12-10 overall and 8-3 in the Atlantic Sun after dropping a 53-39 decision to Kennesaw State on Saturday afternoon.
Kayla Thacker led the way for NKU with nine points and a career-high 16 rebounds, while
Christine Roush added six points and seven rebounds.
Rianna Gayheart,
Kelley Wiegman and
Lauren White each finished with six points as well.
North Florida enters the contest 5-16 overall and 1-9 in the Atlantic Sun after falling to Jacksonville, 66-51, on Saturday. Destinee Smith finished with 11 points, five assists and one blocked shot to lead the Ospreys, while Janea Williams added 10 points and three rebounds.
Offensively, Smith leads the way for North Florida by averaging 11.6 points per game, while Paulina Zaveckaite is pulling down a team-high 6.9 rebounds on the year, which lands in the top 10 in the Atlantic Sun. Larkira Jones has blocked 23 shots this season for a career total of 146 entering Thursday night's contest. Jones is currently tied for 12th all-time in the conference and needs just seven more rejections to move into 11th place.
North Florida's defense has been strong this season as the Ospreys lead the Atlantic Sun by limiting their opponents to just 36.1 rebounds per game. North Florida ranks second in scoring defense, as the Ospreys have held the opposing team to 62.1 points this season. The other team is shooting just 38.7 percent from behind the 3-point arc, which puts North Florida third 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: Christine Roush and
Kelley Wiegman combined for 26 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals to help NKU hold off North Florida for a 57-51 victory on Jan. 16 at the UNF Arena.
Roush finished with 14 points and three steals to lead the way for NKU. She went 3-for-5 from the floor and was perfect from the free-throw line (6-for-6), while Wiegman added 12 points, four assists and three rebounds for the Norse. She went 8-for-10 from the free-throw line, including four in the final 30 seconds.
NKU took a 22-17 lead into the halftime break, but North Florida opened the second half with a 12-1 run behind eight Ki Conner points to take their first lead of the game and push the score to 29-25 with 16:52 left to play. But, the Norse responded with a 16-4 spurt to regain a 41-33 advantage with 9:50 on the clock.
The Ospreys pulled to within two (45-43) on a fast-break layup by Destinee Smith, but
Kayla Thacker drained a 3-pointer on the other end to stretch the Norse lead back to 48-43 with 5:44 remaining.
Conner cut the deficit to 48-47 when she hit the first of two free throws and a shot from long range with 3:48 left to play. A defensive stop and free throw by Larkira Jones tied the game less than a minute later.
Roush's 3-point field goal with 2:43 on the clock regained the lead for NKU at the 2:43 mark. North Florida pulled to within two (53-51) once more with over a minute left to play and had a chance to tie the game, but Chandler Merkerson missed a jumper.
On the other end of the court, Wiegman was fouled and stepped to the free-throw line and hit both attempts for a 55-51 lead with 30.1 seconds left to play.
Jones had a chance to cut into the Norse lead but missed her first free-throw attempt, and Wiegman sank two more from the charity stripe for a 57-51 advantage. Thacker blocked a 3-point attempt by Conner, and
Melody Doss grabbed the rebound to seal the victory and give the Norse a 2-1 advantage in the series.
NKU shot 41.9 percent from the floor, including 66.7 percent (4-for-6) from behind the 3-point arc in the second half after connecting on just 1-for-7 in the opening 20 minutes. North Florida finished with a slight 34-32 advantage in rebounds on the night but went just 6-for-14 from the free-throw line.
Conner scored 18 of her game-high 20 points in the second half to lead North Florida. Raneisha Lamar finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, and Jones also grabbed seven rebounds for the Ospreys.
THACKER ON THE BOARDS: Since NKU played North Florida on Jan. 16 earlier this season,
Kayla Thacker has improved her rebounding average from 5.5 to 6.5 on the year. On Saturday, the senior guard from Mt. Washington, Ky., grabbed a career-high 16 boards and scored nine points to lead the Norse.
Thacker has pulled down an average of 10.2 rebounds over NKU's last five games, reaching double figures twice. In addition to Saturday's career performance, she also collected 12 against Lipscomb on Jan. 25 in The Bank of Kentucky Center. She recorded her first career double-double against the Lady Bisons after pouring in 18 points to lead the Norse on the night.
In her final season with NKU, Thacker is averaging 11.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, which both rank second on the team. She has also collected 40 assists, 23 steals and 16 blocked shots.
GERRETY GEARING UP: Kaitlyn Gerrety has continued to increase her productivity for NKU over the past four games, raising her scoring average from 3.7 points after the Norse defeated Lipscomb on Jan. 25 to 4.5 on the year. Last week, the junior center from Cincinnati, Ohio, recorded a career-high 17 points on the road against Mercer in 36 minutes on the floor. She finished 8-for-12 from the floor and pulled down six rebounds.
In addition to increasing her offensive output, Gerrety has also averaged five rebounds over the last four contests to raise her rebounding average to 4.0 on the year. She pulled down eight rebounds to help the Norse snap Florida Gulf Coast's 44-game regular-season winning streak at The Bank of Kentucky Center on Feb. 1.
THURSDAY-NIGHT SUCCESS: NKU is 4-1 on the season in games played on Thursdays, including the 57-51 victory over North Florida earlier this season. NKU defeated South Carolina Upstate, 76-60, on the first Thursday game of the season on Jan. 2 and captured a 72-61 victory over Mercer in the Bank of Kentucky Center on Jan. 9. The Norse completed the season sweep over the Bears a week ago with a 72-64 win in Macon, Ga.
The only setback the Norse have suffered on a Thursday night this season was when NKU dropped a 90-66 decision to Stetson, which sits atop the Atlantic Sun currently.
FIRST-HALF SUCCESS: The opening 20 minutes have been successful for NKU this season. The Norse have outscored their opponents, 666-645, in the first half for an 11-1 record when taking the lead into the break. NKU has picked up victories against Cincinnati (77-61), Robert Morris (71-62), Tennessee Martin (70-61), South Carolina Upstate (76-60), East Tennessee State (73-63), Mercer twice (72-61 and 72-64), Kennesaw State (79-51), North Florida (57-51), Lipscomb (72-65) and Florida Gulf Coast (63-43).
The only halftime lead NKU has not been able to uphold this season was a 27-23 advantage over Butler on Dec. 15. The Bulldogs outscored the Norse, 30-20, in the second half to pull out a 53-47 victory in Hinkle Fieldhouse.
AGAINST CONFERENCE OPPONENTS: NKU ranks third in the Atlantic Sun in scoring defense, as the Norse have limited their conference opponents to just 60.7 points per game, including a season-low 43 points to Florida Gulf Coast. That is due in part to NKU holding its Atlantic Sun counterparts to just 34.3 percent from 3-point range and limiting the other team to 35.8 rebounds per game to lead the conference in both categories.
THURSDAY PROMOTION: Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the women's game against North Florida on Thursday for Think Pink night presented by the American Cancer Society. Any donations made during the game will go towards the ACS and will help NKU towards its goal of $4,000. NKU men's basketball player Jalen Billups has announced he will shave his head if the Norse are successful in reaching their goal.
