HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky women's basketball team placed five players in double-digits to lift the Norse to a 77-74 victory over South Carolina Upstate to open the home portion of its Atlantic Sun Conference schedule on Saturday night at The Bank of Kentucky Center.

Rianna Gayheart paced the NKU offense with 13 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the floor and four assists, and she collected two assists, two steals and one blocked shot.  Christine Roush finished with 12 points, three assists and two steals, while Kelley Wiegman, Melody Doss and Kasey Uetrecht each added 10 points for the Norse.

NKU, which improved to 11-7 overall and 2-1 in the Atlantic Sun Conference, posted its best shooting performance of the season, finishing at 49.1 percent on 28-for-57 from the field.  The Norse connected on nine of their 16 attempts from 3-point range and saw a balanced scoring effort. 
 
NKU broke out to an early 5-0 lead but USC Upstate chipped away at the Norse lead used an 11-0 run to take the lead at 13-8 with 14:46 left in the first half. The Norse, however, answered with a 10-1 run of their own to regain the lead, and they extended it to as much as 11 points (34-24) at the 5:58 mark.
 
USC Upstate did not back down as the clock wound down in the opening stanza, coming to within one (42-41) with eight seconds left in the half, by holding NKU to just 1-for-6 from the field during the closing minutes. Wiegman swung the momentum in NKU's favor, however, as she hit a floating jumper that just beat the buzzer for a 44-41 Norse halftime advantage.
 
NKU was not able to build on the momentum coming out of the locker room as the Spartans regained the lead at 50-49 after a pair of free throws by Mar'Lisa Braxton with 15:05 remaining in the game. USC Upstate eventually extended its lead to 54-49 at the 14:12 mark on a 3-point field goal by Alex Stanford.
 
The Norse responded with a Melody Doss trey and put-back basket from Gayheart to tie the game at 54-all just over a minute later. The two teams traded baskets and leads over the next seven minutes before the Spartans were able to generate a four-point (68-64) advantage with 6:01 left on the clock. 
 
A 3-point field goal from Roush brought the Norse to within one on the next NKU possession, but Brittany Clency hit a jumper to stretch the USC Upstate lead back to three at 70-67.  A conventional three-point play from Mikayla Terry tied the game at 70-all with 5:43 on the clock.
 
Both teams knocked down shots from long range before a Braxton free throw gave USC Upstate its last lead of the game at 74-73 with 3:33 remaining in the game.  Back-to-back layups from Gayheart and Terry sealed the victory for NKU, which held the Spartans scoreless the rest of the way and held off a fury of 3-point attempts in the final USC Upstate possession.
 
Wiegman and Uetrecht each pulled down a team-high six rebounds for NKU, which finished 12-for-17 from the free-throw line.  Kaitlyn Gerrety added eight points, three rebounds and one blocked shot, while Terry finished with eight points on a perfect shooting night, going 3-for-3 from the floor and connecting on her only attempt from the charity stripe.  Shar'Rae Davis chipped in six points in the balance NKU effort.
 
Brittany Starling led USC Upstate, which fell to 9-9 overall and 1-2 in the Atlantic Sun, with a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. Clency finished with 18 points and eight boards, while Braxton added 12 points and three rebounds for the Spartans, who shot just 58.3 percent (14-for-24) from the free-throw line.
 
The Spartans finished with a 42-29 rebounding advantage and pulled down 14 offensive rebounds.  USC Upstate shot 45.2 percent (28-for-62) from the field, including a 16-for-31 performance in the first half.
 
NKU continues Atlantic Sun action with a pair of games in Jacksonville, Florida, next week.  The Norse will face North Florida on Thursday at 7 p.m. and conclude their trip to the sunshine state with a matchup at Jacksonville two days later at 2 p.m.  Links to live stats and the video broadcast for both contests are available at NKUNorse.com.