Atlantic Sun Weekly Notes |
Game 29 Notes |
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Sat., March 8
Highland Heights, Ky. – The Bank of Kentucky Center (9,400)
NKU (16-12 overall, 12-5 A-Sun) vs. East Tennessee State (9-19 overall, 5-12 A-Sun)
Series Record: NKU leads 3-0
Last Meeting: NKU 73, ETSU 63 (Jan. 4, 2014)
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team concludes the regular season on Saturday as the Norse welcome East Tennessee State to The Bank of Kentucky Center at 1 p.m. to wrap up Atlantic Sun Conference play.
NKU is 16-12 overall and 12-5 in the Atlantic Sun after earning a 71-58 victory over South Carolina Upstate Thursday night at The Bank of Kentucky Center.
Melody Doss scored 19 points and blocked three shots to lead NKU, while
Kayla Thacker recorded her third double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Kaitlyn Gerrety and
Rianna Gayheart each added 12 points for the Norse as the two combined for seven rebounds.
ETSU enters the contest 9-19 overall and 5-12 in the Atlantic Sun after falling to Lipscomb, 76-74, Thursday in Nashville, Tenn. The Bucs placed five players in double figures, led by Serena Clark's 13 points and eight rebounds. Tiana Burley, Chandler Christopher and Shawn Randall each added 12 points, while Maria Bond finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots.
Cara Bowling leads the ETSU offense, averaging 11.2 points per game but has only seen action in three of the Bucs last 13 games due to an injury and illness. Serena Clark follows with 10.6 points and a team-high 10.0 rebounds per game, and she has blocked 26 shots on the year. Christopher has dished out 57 assists to lead ETSU, while Shamauria Bridges has knocked down 40 3-pointers on the year.
ETSU, which has clinched the sixth seed in the Atlantic Sun Championship tournament next week, averages 66.0 points per game to rank fourth in the conference, and the Bucs also land fourth in field-goal percentage, connecting on 40.3 percent of their attempts this season. As a team, ETSU limiting its opponents to just 38.1 rebounds per game, which is fourth in the Atlantic Sun as well.
Links to live stats and the ASun.TV broadcast will be available at nkunorse.com.
LAST TIME AGAINST EAST TENNESSEE STATE: Kayla Thacker and
Melody Doss combined for 30 points and 12 rebounds to lead NKU to a 73-63 victory over ETSU at the Mountain States Health Alliance Athletics Center on Jan. 4.
Thacker finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and two steals to lead the way for NKU. The senior guard from Mt. Washington, Ky., finished 4-for-7 from behind the 3-point arc and blocked one shot.
Doss added 14 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists on the day for the Norse.
Lauren White scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half and went 7-for-7 from the free throw line, while
Christine Roush went 4-for-5 from the floor for 11 points.
NKU used a 16-3 run in the first half to turn a 7-5 deficit into an 11-point (21-10) advantage with 7:52 remaining before the half. The Norse held the Bucs without a field goal for almost eight minutes to help stretch their advantage to 19 as NKU took a 43-24 lead into the break.
The Norse shot 56.3 percent from the floor, including 83.3 percent (5-for-6) from behind the 3-point arc, while limiting ETSU to 33.3 percent from the field in the first half. The Norse also forced nine Bucs turnovers in the opening stanza.
ETSU opened the second half with a 12-2 run to cut the NKU advantage to single digits at 45-36 with 14:36 left to play. A Thacker fast-break layup after a steal pushed the NKU lead back to 54-41, but the Bucs sliced the Norse advantage to six (63-57) with 5:56 remaining.
White's conventional three-point play extended the NKU lead back to nine at 66-57. However, a free throw by Serena Clark and 3-pointer by Cara Bowling cut the Norse lead to 66-61 with 2:56 on the clock. Thacker responded with a trey to push the lead back to nine (70-61) with a little over two minutes left to play.
The Bucs were unable to get any closer than seven (70-63) the rest of the way, and two free throws by both Thacker and Roush sealed the victory for the Norse.
Kelley Wiegman finished with nine points on 4-for-6 shooting from the floor for the Norse, who shot 50.9 percent from the field and were outrebounded by ETSU, 36-32.
Kaitlyn Gerrety added six points and six rebounds for NKU.
Brianna McQueen led the way for ETSU with 12 points. Bond finished with 11 points and Bowling added 10 for the Bucs, while Clark pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds and scored seven points.
The Norse improved to 3-0 in the all-time series against the Bucs with the win. Last season, NKU overcame a 14-point deficit for a 77-76 road victory at ETSU.
KAYLA THACKER DAY: Prior to Saturday's game against ETSU, NKU will honor its lone senior,
Kayla Thacker, in a pregame ceremony.
The Mt. Washington, Ky., native leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 7.0 boards per game, and averages 12.6 points per game. She also tops the team in 3-point field-goals made (50), offensive rebounds (52) and minutes played (938). Thacker returned for her final season as the Norse's top scorer, rebounder and shot blocker, having averaged 11.2 points and 5 .9 rebounds while rejecting 22 shots as a junior.
During her NKU career, Thacker has helped lead the team to a 70-42 record and been an important leader as the Norse began the NCAA Division I transition. She has scored 801 points and pulled down 507 rebounds at NKU entering Saturday's contest.
Thacker has received several Atlantic Sun honors over the past two seasons. She earned preseason all-conference honors to start the year and was named the Atlantic Sun Player of the Week on Feb. 3 after scoring 22 points to help the Norse snap Florida Gulf Coast's 44-game regular season conference winning streak with a 63-43 victory at The Bank of Kentucky Center. Last season, Thacker also earned conference all-academic honors for her performance both on the court and in the classroom.
STRONG ENDING: Kaitlyn Gerrety continued her strong performance to close out the 2013-14 season with a 12-point effort against USC Upstate on Thursday evening. She finished 4-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe to help the Norse defeat the Spartans, 71-58, at The Bank of Kentucky Center. She also dished out three assists and grabbed three rebounds.
After NKU hosted Lipscomb on Jan. 25, Gerrety was averaging just 3.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. The junior center from Cincinnati, Ohio, then scored 8.2 points over the next 10 games to improve her season average to 5.3. She has scored in double figures four times this season, including a career-high 17 points at Mercer on Feb. 6.
HOT BEHIND THE ARC: Rianna Gayheart broke out of her scoring slump on Thursday against USC Upstate. The sophomore guard from Owenton, Ky., scored all 12 of her points in the first half to lead NKU to its largest halftime lead of the season (39-17).
She finished 4-for-7 from behind the 3-point arc and added four rebounds, one blocked shot and a steal for the Norse. This season, Gayheart is averaging 4.4 points per game and has knocked down 20 3-pointers. She has scored in double figures four times, including a season-high 16 points against UNC Wilmington on Nov. 16.
SETTING NEW BENCHMARKS: With its 71-58 victory over USC Upstate on Thursday night at The Bank of Kentucky Center, NKU notched its 16th win of the season to set a new Division I benchmark for the team. Last season, the Norse finished its inaugural season with a 15-13 overall record, and they earned a berth to the Women's Basketball Invitational.
NKU now just needs just one more victory to improve its conference mark from last season as well. The Norse went 12-6 in the Atlantic Sun last season after going 8-1 in the second half of the conference schedule. This season, NKU entered the halfway point with a 7-2 record but dropped decision to Kennesaw State (Feb. 8), Stetson (Feb. 28) and Florida Gulf Coast (March 1) to bring its Atlantic Sun mark to 12-5 entering the last game of the season.
BALANCED ATTACK: NKU placed four players in double figures against USC Upstate on Thursday night. It marked the seventh time this season the Norse have placed four or more players in double digits, including the last time NKU faced ETSU on Jan. 4.
Melody Doss led the Norse with 19 points on Thursday night, while
Kayla Thacker added 13.
Kaitlyn Gerrety finished with 12 points, and
Rianna Gayheart drained four 3-pointers for 12 points.
Entering the final regular season game of the season, the Norse boast three players averaging in double figures against conference opponents. Doss leads NKU by averaging 12.9 points to rank ninth against Atlantic Sun teams. Thacker follows with a 12.7 scoring average, while
Christine Roush adds 10.5 points per game in Atlantic Sun contests.
ATLANTIC SUN TOP TWO: NKU lands among the top two in the Atlantic Sun in several categories. The Norse lead the conference in free-throw shooting at 75.2 percent.
Christine Roush leads NKU and the conference from behind the charity stripe, connecting on 90.0 percent (63-for-70) of her attempts, while
Lauren White is fifth in the Atlantic Sun at 81.8 percent (72-for-88).
The Norse are second in scoring defense both overall and against Atlantic Sun counterparts, having limited their opponents to just 63.2 points on the year and 61.8 in conference play. NKU also ranks second in turnover margin. As a team, the Norse have forced the other team to turn the ball over 17.2 times per contest compared to their 14.5 miscues for a +2.64 turnover margin.
