Atlantic Sun Weekly Notes |
Game 24 Notes |
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Sat., Feb. 15
Highland Heights, Ky. – The Bank of Center (9,400)
NKU (13-10 overall, 9-3 A-Sun) vs. Jacksonville (10-12 overall, 7-4 A-Sun)
Series Record: JU leads 2-1
Last Meeting: JU 67, NKU 56 (Jan. 18, 2014)
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team welcomes Jacksonville to The Bank of Kentucky Center for an Atlantic Sun Conference contest on Saturday at 7 p.m., looking to avenge a loss earlier this season.
NKU enters the contest 13-10 overall and 9-3 in the Atlantic Sun Conference after defeating North Florida, 78-65, on Thursday at The Bank of Kentucky Center.
Kayla Thacker led four players in double figures for NKU with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while
Christine Roush and
Melody Doss poured in 15 points each.
Kelley Wiegman added 11 points as the Norse knocked down 11 3-pointers on the night.
Jacksonville is 10-12 on the year and 7-4 in the Atlantic Sun after falling to Lipscomb, 94-79, on Thursday evening. Queen Alford and Sherranda Reddick each scored 20 points to lead the Dolphins, while Stephanie Edwards added 13.
Alford averages 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game to lead the way for Jacksonville and is one of three Dolphins who have started every game this season. Reddick adds 13.1 points for the Dolphins, while Edwards contributes 8.5 points per contest and leads the team with 84 assists and 48 steals. Defensively, Kimberly Dawkins had blocked a team-high 13 shots.
Links to live stats, the ASun.TV broadcast and Andrew Kappes' audio broadcast will be available at nkunorse.com.
LAST TIME AGAINST JACKSONVILLE: Queen Alford and Stephanie Edwards combined for 30 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists to lead Jacksonville to a 67-56 victory over NKU on Jan. 16 at the Swisher Gymnasium to take a 2-1 lead in the all-time series between the two schools.
Edwards finished with 16 points, six assists and five rebounds to lead the way for Jacksonville, while Alford scored 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the floor and grabbed eight rebounds as the Dolphins stopped NKU's winning streak at five.
Melody Doss led the way for the NKU with her fifth double-double of the season. She finished with 17 points, a game-high 12 rebounds and three blocked shots, and
Christine Roush added 15 points, four rebounds and two assists for the Norse.
Jacksonville took a 35-28 lead into halftime despite NKU shooting 46.2 percent from the field in the first half. The Dolphins shot 35.1 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes but forced 10 Norse turnovers and pulled down 12 offensive rebounds for the advantage at the break.
NKU opened the second half with a 7-0 run, sparked by five points from Roush, to tie the game at 35-all with 17:02 remaining. Jacksonville scored the next six points to regain the lead at 41-35 at the 14:19 mark.
After the Norse pulled to within one (41-40), the Dolphins broke the game open with a 16-0 run to take a 57-40 lead with 6:42 left on the clock for their largest lead of the game. NKU later went on a 6-0 run to cut the Jacksonville lead to 10 twice, the last at 66-56 with 30 seconds left, but could get no closer.
Jade Cargill added 11 points and eight rebounds for the Dolphins, who went just 1-for-7 from behind the 3-point arc and shot 36.7 percent from the field on the day. Briona Brown finished with nine points, four rebounds and two steals.
Lauren White finished with nine points and a career-high seven rebounds for the Norse.
Jacksonville outrebounded NKU by a 44-38 margin and finished with a 32-18 advantage in points in the paint on the day. The Dolphins limited the Norse to 24 percent shooting from the floor in the second half, and NKU shot 35.3 percent for the game.
The Norse finished 15-for-18 from the free-throw line to improve their conference-best percentage to 76.4 on the year, while Jacksonville converted on 22 of its 33 total attempts from the charity stripe.
WHEN SCORING FIRST: Melody Doss hit a jumper less than 30 seconds into NKU's game against North Florida on Thursday night, helping the Norse improve to 8-3 on the year when scoring first. NKU also secured wins by grabbing the lead first in victories against Illinois State (61-48), Robert Morris (71-62), South Carolina Upstate (76-60), Kennesaw State (79-51), North Florida (57-51), Lipscomb (72-65) and Mercer (72-64).
The three decisions the Norse dropped when scoring the first point were Western Kentucky (64-74), Miami (66-76) and Ball State (63-67), all at The Bank of Kentucky Center.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE THREAT: NKU is now 6-1 this season when a player records a double-double.
Kayla Thacker scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against North Florida for her second double-double of the season on Thursday. The Norse defeated Lipscomb at The Bank of Kentucky Center on Jan. 25 when Thacker finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Melody Doss has accomplished the feat five times on the year. Her 24-point, 11-rebound effort gave NKU its first win of the season against Cincinnati (77-61) on Nov. 9, and she scored 23 points and pulled down 14 boards to help the Norse capture the Robert Morris Thanksgiving Classic title with a win over Tennessee Martin (70-61) on Nov. 30.
The 6-foot forward from Greenwood, Ind., finished with 24 point and 11 rebounds at South Carolina Upstate (76-60) and against Mercer in The Bank of Kentucky Center on Jan. 9, Doss added 21 points and 13 rebounds.
NKU's only loss of the season when a player finished with a double-double was on Jan. 18 at Jacksonville (56-67) when Doss scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
LEADING STARTERS: On Thursday night, NKU's starters combined for 82 percent of the team's scoring against North Florida. The five starters finished with 64 of the Norse's 78 points on the night, led by
Kayla Thacker's 18-point performance.
Melody Doss and
Christine Roush each added 15, while
Kelley Wiegman scored 11.
Kaitlyn Gerrety finished with five points on the night, including one 3-point field goal.
On the year, these starters have contributed for 72.8 percent of NKU's offensive output. They have combined to score 1,092 total points of the team's 1,500 this season. Doss leads the Norse with a 15.2 scoring average, with Thacker following with 12.2 points per game.
EVEN SCORING: NKU had four players score in double figures on Thursday night against North Florida.
Kayla Thacker finished with 18 points, while
Melody Doss and
Christine Roush scored 15 points each.
Kelley Wiegman rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points. It marked the fifth time the season the Norse have had at least four players score 10 or more for the game.
Against conference opponents this season, NKU has four players averaging double figures, led by
Melody Doss' 12.6 points per game.
Kayla Thacker adds 12.1 points against Atlantic Sun teams, and
Christine Roush contributes 11.2. In addition,
Lauren White has averaged 10.2 points per game since starting conference play this year.
HEATING UP BEHIND THE ARC: NKU knocked down 11 3-pointers against the Ospreys on Thursday night. It marked the second time in a week that the Norse connected on 10 or more treys and the third time this season. The Norse also knocked down 11 treys against Miami (Ohio) at The Bank of Kentucky Center on Dec. 7.
Last Thursday, NKU hit a season-high 14 shots from long range, which fell one shy of the school record, en route to a 72-64 victory at Mercer. The school-record 15 3-pointers was set against Southern Indiana on Jan. 18, 2003. NKU defeated the Eagles, 98-82, in that matchup in Evansville, Ind.
CHASING 150: NKU head coach
Dawn Plitzuweit needs five more wins for her 150th career victory as a head coach. Plitzuweit, who is in her second season with the Norse, guided the Norse 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. Overall, Plitzuweit now owns a 145-62 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.
SATURDAY PROMOTION: Saturday night's game against Jacksonville is Boone County Night at The Bank of Kentucky Center. Citizens of Boone County will receive $3 admission to the NKU-Stetson women's game with proof of residency.
Following the game, the final Shoot Around Saturday of the season 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.
