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MACON, Ga. –
Kayla Thacker and
Kaitlyn Gerrety combined for 36 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team to a 72-64 victory over Mercer in Atlantic Sun Conference play on Thursday night in Hawkins Arena.
Thacker, the reigning Atlantic Sun Player of the Week, scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the way for NKU, which improved to 12-9 overall and 8-2 in the Atlantic Sun. She dished out five assists and knocked down five 3-point field goals on the night.
Gerrety finished the night with career highs in points with 17, and assists with five. She also added six rebounds for the Norse. The junior center from Cincinnati, Ohio, went 8-for-12 from the floor.
"I thought Kayla played really well," NKU head coach
Dawn Plitzuweit said. "She bounced back from starting 1-for-5 from the floor and hit some critical shots for us tonight. Kaitlyn played one heck of a game. She really got after it on both ends of the floor, and she neutralized their post players on the glass."
With the score tied at 8-all, NKU used a 13-2 run to take a 21-10 lead midway through the first half. The Norse stretched their lead to 13 (29-16) with just over five minutes remaining, but Mercer pulled to within 31-25 courtesy of a 9-2 spurt with 2:26 left on the clock.
Rianna Gayheart responded with her third 3-point shot of the half to stretch the lead back to nine, but the Norse took a 34-30 advantage into the break after a layup by Precious Bridges and a 3-pointer by Kendra Grant at the buzzer.
NKU shot 50 percent from the floor and went 8-for 17 from long range in the opening 20 minutes for the halftime advantage.
Mercer, which fell to 11-10 on the year and 4-6 in the conference, opened the half with a 6-2 run, led by Sharnea Boykins' four points, to tie the game at 36 with 16:53 left. The teams traded baskets over the next 10 minutes until NKU scored eight straight points to take a 66-56 advantage with 6:27 remaining on the clock.
Gerrety stopped an 8-0 Bears run with a layup to give the Norse a 68-64 advantage with one minute left to play, and
Lauren White hit four clutch three throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the victory.
"I thought our players are starting to really play with the energy level they need to play with," Plitzuweit said. "In the second half, there were some stretches where we did not get stops. At crunch time, if we can string together two or three possessions at the end of the game, it puts us in a good position to be successful. And, I thought we were able to do that tonight."
The Norse won the rebounding battle by a 32-29 margin to remain undefeated on the year when outrebounding the opponent. NKU finished the night shooting 48.2 percent from the floor and 14-for-31 from behind the 3-point arc, which fell one shy of the school record of 15 set against Southern Indiana on Jan. 18, 2003.
White finished with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists off the bench for NKU, while
Melody Doss contributed 10 points, five rebounds and a career-high six assists as the Norse collected 24 assists as a team on just 27 made field goals.
Brianna Williams led the way for Mercer, which shot 50 percent from the field for the game, with 17 points and six assists. Grant poured in 15 points and grabbed five rebounds as Boykin pulled down a team-high six rebounds, dished out a game-high nine assists and scored eight points on the night.
With the win, NKU improved to 3-1 in the all-time series between the two programs and completed the season sweep of the Bears. The Norse also reached the 70-point threshold to remain unbeaten (8-0) on the year when scoring at least 70 points.
NKU looks to complete the season sweep of Kennesaw State Saturday at the KSU Convocation Center in Kennesaw, Ga. The game is set to begin at 2 p.m. Links to live stats, the ESPN3 broadcast and Andrew Kappes' webcast will be available at nkunorse.com.
