GREEN BAY, Wis. – Torrid shooting and stifling defense in the first quarter led the Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team to a 71-59 victory over Cleveland State in the opening round of the Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship at Kress Events Center.
 
Kasey Uetrecht scored a team-high 15 points, pulled down seven rebounds and dished out five assists for the Norse, who improved to 18-12 on the season with the win. Rianna Gayheart had a strong performance as well, netting 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting to go with five boards and six assists. Molly Franson added 12 points as well.
 
As a team, the Norse shot 41 percent (25-of-61) from the floor and 39.1 percent (9-of-23) from long range. The Norse won the battle on the boards as well, by a 38-29 margin.
 
Khayla Livingston led the Cleveland State (9-20) effort with 18 points, going 5-of-7 from three. Ashanti Abshaw added 14 points and 11 rebounds as the Vikings shot 40.4 percent (21-of-52) from the field.
 
The Norse got off on a hot streak early, scoring the game's first nine points over a 3:30 stretch. Defensively, the Norse held Cleveland State to just 3-of-14 from the floor and forced seven Viking turnovers. Gayheart helped extend the NKU lead, knocking down three treys in the first quarter as NKU took a 25-7 advantage to the first quarter break.
 
Cleveland State found its stroke from beyond the arc in the second quarter, knocking down six three-pointers in the stanza and cutting into the Norse lead. NKU took advantage of opportunities inside, and kept the advantage to double-digits at halftime, leading 40-28.
 
The Norse shot 51.7 percent (15-for-29) in the first half, including 7-of-13 from long range.
 
The Norse worked the ball inside in the second half, as Kasey Uetrecht picked up eight and Franson added six to help the Norse keep pace. Cleveland State got the score as close as eight points at 54-46 with 2:07 to go in the third, but the Norse finished the period on a 6-1 run to extend the lead back to 60-47.
 
The run continued to start the fourth quarter, as the Norse outscored the Vikings 9-1 over the first 4:30 of the quarter, jumping out to their largest lead of the game at 69-48. Cleveland State outscored the Norse the rest of the way, 11-2, but NKU was able to hold on for the victory.
 
NKU now moves on to the second round of the Horizon League Championship to face Valparasio, which defeated Detroit in overtime, 94-91, to open the tournament. Friday's tipoff is set for 5 p.m. Central (6 p.m. Eastern) with the action carried live on ESPN3.
 
NORSE NOTES
 

• Uetrecht's seven rebounds are the most for the sophomore since pulling down eight against Green Bay at home on Jan. 21. She now has 162 rebounds on the season, ranking fifth in a single season in the Division I era at NKU.
• With eight points today, Christine Roush now has 494 points on the season, and needs just six more to become the 14^th player in NKU history to score 500 or more points in a season.
• The win improved NKU's record in the all-time series with Cleveland State to 3-1.