HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Melody Doss and Kelley Wiegman were standouts on the night as the Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team was able to wrap-up its regular-season home schedule with a win over Kennesaw State, 68-61, in Atlantic Sun Conference action in The Bank of Kentucky Center.
 
NKU (16-12, 7-6 A-Sun) was led by Wiegman with 17 points, including going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Doss added on 15 points, five rebounds and three assists. Christine Roush rounded out the top scorers with 14 points and four rebounds. The Norse, who clinched a top-four spot in next week's Atlantic Sun tournament, ended the game shooting 46.7 percent (21-for-45) and 78.3 percent (18-for-23) from the free-throw line.
 
Jasmine McAllister led the Owls (16-12, 5-8 A-Sun) with a double-double, scoring 13 points and pulling in 10 boards. She was aided by Aaeron Smith with 12 points and Karly Frye with 11 points. As a team, the Owls shot 41.7 percent (20-for-48), including 38.1 percent (8-for-21) from three, and struggled from the free throw line, shooting 50 percent (13-for-26).
 
The game started out very fast-paced, but both teams struggled to score in the opening three and a half minutes. Kennesaw State's Smith netted the first field goal at the 16:38 mark followed by a bucket by Faith Sanders a minute later to tie it at 3-3.
 
Rianna Gayheart gave the Norse a spark with a step-back triple followed by two layups by Doss and gave NKU the 12-8 lead with 10:21 left.
 
The Owls kept pace with a three-pointer by Kelly Dulkoski and brought the lead down to one, but at the other end, Doss converted on a layup to stretch the lead back to 14-11 (7:51).
 
Kennesaw State continued to keep pace with a couple of runs late in the first half, starting with a 7-2 spurt to tie the game at 18 with 3:34 to go. Baskets from Gerrety and Doss helped the Norse regain the lead, but an 8-0 run in the final 90 seconds gave the Owls the lead at intermission, 27-23.
 
The team was led by the play in the post as Doss, Gerrety and Franson combined for 15 first-half points. Doss led the team in the half with nine.
 
The Norse started the second half with an 8-2 run, converting on their first three field goal attempts and taking a 31-30 lead after a Roush free throw at 18:05. The Owls turned around to score four straight points, but a triple by Wiegman and a pair of free throws for Franson gave the Norse back the lead, 36-34, at the 16:08 mark.
 
A 3-pointer by Roush at 13:55 followed by a Doss layup shortly after gave the Norse its largest lead up to that point at 43-37. Kennesaw came back with a three and layup to cut the Norse lead down to 45-42 at the 10:57 mark.
 
A pull-up trey by Roush with 7:07 remaining sparked an 11-4 run to give NKU its largest lead of the night at 60-50. The Norse continued to hit their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the final score.
 
NKU will conclude the 2014-15 regular season on Saturday with a trip to Spartanburg, South Carolina, to face USC Upstate.  The contest is slated for a 2 p.m. start time from Hodge Center.  Links to live stats and the ESPN3 broadcast are available at NKUNorse.com.