HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team opens the 2015-16 season on Friday afternoon with a matinee showdown at Miami (Ohio). Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m., with the action broadcast live on ESPN3.
 
Northern Kentucky University Norse (0-0)
Miami University RedHawks (0-0)
Friday, Nov. 13 – 1:30 p.m.
Millett Hall (6,400) – Oxford, Ohio
TV: ESPN3 – Steve Baker (PBP) and Lindsay Justus (analyst)
Series History: (all-time) Series tied, 6-6; (since 2012) Miami leads, 2-0
 
Fast Break Points (140 Characters or Less)
• Northern Kentucky begins its first season in the Horizion League after making the move official on July 1, 2015.
• NKU returns 68.4% of its scoring and 72.2% of its rebounding from last season after graduating Mel Doss and Kaitlyn Gerrity.
• NKU was picked to finish eighth in the Horizon League preseason poll, voted on by coaches, administrators and the media.
• NKU hosted its first ever conference postseason game in 2014-15, welcoming USC Upstate for an Atlantic Sun Championship quarterfinal matchup.
• NKU was selected to the Women's Basketball Invitational for the third-straight year and hosted a first-round game for the second time.
• G Christine Roush was one of the most effective FT shooters in the nation last year, going 87.8% from the stripe, which would rank 17th nationally.
• Roush was also strong from long range, shooting 34.7% from 3-point land and averaging 1.8 treys per game.
• Roush ranks 32nd on the all-time scoring list at NKU with 919 points, and needs just 81 to become the 29th member of NKU's 1,000-point club.
• F Kasey Uetrecht topped the Norse in 3-point efficency, hitting 45% of her attempts to lead all returning Horizon League players.
• Uetrecht closed out the 2014-15 season with a career-high 26 point effort against Marshall in the WBI first round.
• Uetrecht was solid on the ball as well, as she committed just 21 turnovers last season, lowest among players averaging 10 minutes a night.
• G Rianna Gayheart averaged 3.8 assists to lead the Norse last season, who averaged 12.0 assists as a team.
• Gayheart is on the verge of cracking into the top 20 on the career assists list, entering the season with 249.
 
About Miami
The RedHawks enter the 2015-16 season picked to finish fourth in the Mid-American Conference's East Division after a vote of the league's coaches. Miami returns eight letterwinners and 85 percent of its scoring from a squad that saw more than half of its minutes come from freshmen.
 
In Miami's exhibition against West Virginia State, Kristen Levering led the way with 13 points, all in the first half, while Kendall McCoy followed up with a 12-point effort as the RedHawks posted a 70-53 win. Ana Richter grabbed 10 rebounds in the effort.
 
Last season, the RedHawks posted a 7-23 record, including a 4-14 mark in MAC play, while averaging 55.2 points per game.
 
The Series
While the Norse and RedHawks are tied in the all-time series at 6-6, NKU is still looking for its first win over Miami since reclassifying to Division I in 2012. Over that time, Miami has picked up a pair of wins in the series, most recently a 76-66 victory over the Norse at BB&T Arena on Dec. 7, 2013.
 
Mel Doss poured in 20 points and Kayla Thacker added 18 in the effort, while then sophomore Christine Roush went for nine points and then-freshmen Kelley Wiegman and Sarah Kinch each added eight.
 
Picking Up Where She Left Off
Sophomore Forward Kasey Uetrecht finished up the 2014-15 season on a career note, pouring in a team-high 26 points in NKU's 81-79 defeat at the hands of Marshall in the first round of the WBI.
 
The 6-1 forward connected on 11-of-12 from the floor, including 4-of-4 from 3-point range, to pace NKU's scoring. The effort helped her raise her season scoring average to 5.1 points. Her 45.0 shooting percentage from the field and 45.5 percent efficency from long range last year ranks Uetrecht as one of the most efficent shooters in the Horizon League this season.
 
Shar'Rae Shines
Shar'Rae Davis set a new personal-best points total at NKU against FGCU  in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship game last year as she poured in 18 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the floor, including a 6-for-7 effort from behind the 3-point arc. She added two rebounds, one assist and one steal in NKU's first-ever Division I conference championship game.
 
The redshirt junior from Grand Haven, Michigan, averaged 6.0 points and 2.3 rebounds for the Norse last season. She dished out 30 assists, blocked three shots and collected 23 steals in her first season with NKU after transferring from Youngstown State.