HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team opens Atlantic Sun Conference on the road, heading to Nashville, Tennessee, to take on Lipscomb at Allen Arena on Saturday.
 
Tipoff between NKU and Lipscomb is schedule for 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  Links to live stats and the ESPN3 broadcast are available at NKUNorse.com.  For live updates as the game progresses, be sure to follow @NKUNorseGameDay on Twitter as well.
 
NKU improved to 9-6 overall with a 78-57 victory over visiting Georgetown (Ky.) on Tuesday evening at The Bank of Kentucky Center.  Melody Doss scored a season-high and game-high 22 point to lead the Norse to victory, while Shar'Rae Davis and Sarah Kinch combined for 24 points off the bench.  Davis added 14 points, which set a personal-best at NKU, and Kinch chipped in a season-high 10 points.
 
Georgetown held an 8-4 advantage early in the first half, but NKU responded with a 8-2 run to take a 12-10 lead.  The Norse took a 40-26 advantage into the halftime break, but the Tigers continued to battle, coming to within seven (46-39) with 14:21 left in the game.  That was as close as Georgetown could get as Kasey Uetrecht knocked down her second 3-point field goal of the game to push the NKU lead to 49-39 on the next possession, and the Norse continued to extend their lead from there.
 
ABOUT LIPSCOMB: The Lady Bisons enter Atlantic Sun action with a 5-9 record.  Lipscomb broke a three-game losing skid with a 95-71 home victory over Trevecca on Monday evening.  Danay Fothergill poured in 26 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the floor, including six 3-pointers, and dished out five assists to lead Lipscomb, while Ashley Southern finished with 15 points, also going 7-for-10 from the field, and a game-high nine rebounds.
 
Southern tops three players averaging double-figures in points, leading the way at 13.9 points per game.  Sara Bliss adds 10.8 points, while Fothergill contributes 10.5 points per contest.  Southern also leads the Lady Bisons on the glass, pulling down 9.1 rebounds, which ranks fourth in the Atlantic Sun.  Emily Eubank is dishing out 3.9 assists per game to land second in the conference, while Bliss is ninth in the Atlantic Sun with 20 steals this season.
 
Head coach Greg Brown is in his third season at Lipscomb, and he went 9-50 in his first two years at the helm.  The Lady Bisons' five nonconference victories this season sets a new high for Lipscomb under Brown's leadership as the team has improved its overall record each year.
 
NKU-LIPSCOMB SERIES: NKU is 4-0 overall against Lipscomb all-time.  The series began during the 2012-13 season, the first as an NCAA Division I program and Atlantic Sun member, with the Norse taking both decisions by 17 or more points.  One year ago, both contests were much closer.  NKU held on for a 72-65 victory in The Bank of Kentucky Center before fending off a late second-half rally by the Lady Bisons for a 61-57 win in Allen Arena.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST LIPSCOMB: Kayla Thacker scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds as the NKUK held off a late Lipscomb rally for a 61-57 victory in Allen Arena on Feb. 22, 2014.
 
Thacker finished 9-for-13 from the floor and knocked down three shots from long range to lead NKU, and she blocked one shot and recorded one steal as well.  Christine Roush and Kelley Wiegman each added nine points for the Norse, while Kaitlyn Gerrety scored six points and grabbed eight rebounds.
 
NKU held a 30-18 advantage at the halftime break, but Lipscomb scored the first three points of the second half to cut its deficit to single digits at 30-21 less than two minutes into the half.  A quick 7-0 run by NKU gave the Norse their largest lead of the game at 37-21 with 16:49 remaining in the game, capped by a Christine Roush layup.
 
The Lady Bisons slowly chipped away at the Norse advantage and cut the NKU lead to 45-43 after a 13-4 run, led by four straight points from Ashley Southern, with 7:38 left on the clock. Wiegman, however, answered with back-to-back layups to push the score to 49-43, and Roush drained a 3-pointer for a 52-43 lead at the 6:04 mark. 
 
Later, Lipscomb used a press to force five NKU turnovers, and the Lady Bisons scored eight consecutive points to pull to within 54-51 with exactly two minutes left on the clock.  Thacker pulled down a rebound on the defensive end and connected on one of two free throws to stretch the Norse advantage to 55-51 with 42 seconds remaining.
 
With NKU holding a 57-51 advantage, Southern knocked down a 3-pointer to bring Lipscomb to within 57-54 with just 33 seconds on the clock.  Thacker's layup on the other end of the court pushed the Norse lead to 59-54, and Southern responded with a conventional three-point play on the next Lipscomb possession.  The Norse followed with a pair of free throws for the final margin of the game.
 
The Norse shot 46.2 percent from the floor after going 12-for-26 from the floor in each half and finished with a 33-29 advantage in rebounds to improve to 8-1 on the year when outrebounding the opponent.  NKU forced 19 turnovers and scored 23 points off those miscues.
 
Southern recorded a double-double with 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead Lipscomb.  Chandler Copper knocked down three 3-pointers en route to 11 points, while Danay Fothergill finished with 10 points and three assists.
 
CAREER NIGHTS: Four NKU players posted career numbers in the team's 78-57 victory over Georgetown (Ky.) on Tuesday night at The Bank of Kentucky Center.  Shar'Rae Davis set a personal high since transferring to NKU with a 14-point performance against the Tigers, while Kasey Uetrecht set a new career number in points with eight off the bench for the Norse.
 
Sarah Kinch collected six steals for NKU, doubling her previous best of three which she achieved three times during her freshman campaign last season.  Kaitlyn Gerrety, who equaled her previous career high inn 10 rebounds twice, pulled down a new best against Georgetown with a game-high 11 boards.
 
MEASURING UP: Five NKU players find themselves among the top 10 players in the Atlantic Sun.  Melody Doss lands in the top in three separate categories.  The senior forward from Greenwood, Indiana, ranks sixth in scoring, averaging a team-high 13.9 point per game.  She is shooting 37.1 percent (23-for-62) from behind the 3-point arc to land ninth among conference players, and her 79.1 percent (34-for-43) performance from the free-throw line is 10th.
 
Christine Roush currently leads the Atlantic Sun in free-throw shooting, connecting on 60-of-67 (.896) attempts from the charity stripe. The junior guard from Louisville, Kentucky, also shares seventh place in blocks per game, rejecting 1.1 opponent shots on average. 
Kaitlyn Gerrety continues to hold down third in blocked shots at 1.4 per contest.  The senior center from Cincinnati, Ohio, is collecting 1.7 steals per game to rank sixth in the Atlantic Sun, while her 5.9 rebounds per contest lands ninth. 
 
Kelley Wiegman, a sophomore guard from Cincinnati, Ohio, follows just behind Roush to rank second in the conference at the free-throw line, knocking down 85.1 percent (40-for-47) of her attempts.  Rianna Gayheart, a junior guard from Owenton, Kentucky, lands 10th among Atlantic Sun players as she has dished out 2.6 assists over 14 games.
 
UP NEXT: NKU stays on the road for a midweek Atlantic Sun matchup against Kennesaw State on Jan. 14 before returning to The Bank of Kentucky Center to welcome South Carolina Upstate three days later for Shoot Around Saturday.  Both contests are set to tip off at 7 p.m., and links to live stats and the ESPN3 broadcasts are available at NKUNorse.com.