HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky women's basketball returns home this weekend to take on Horizon League foe UIC on Thursday evening. Tipoff against the Flames is slated for 5 p.m. ET and will serve as the front end of a doubleheader with the NKU men's team, which hosts Green Bay at 7:30 p.m.  The game will be broadcast on the ESPN3 platform with Andrew Kappes on play-by-play with Karmen Graham as analyst. Fans can stream the game live on computers, tablets and smart phones through WatchESPN and the ESPN App.

LAST TIME OUT: The Norse made a short trip north to Dayton on Feb. 4, but fell short against Wright State in a 67-47 decision. Coupled with a pair of Green Bay losses, the game boosted the Raiders to the top of the Horizon League leaderboard. NKU had its top scoring performances out of senior guard Kelley Wiegman and junior forward Kasey Uetrecht, who both had 12 points on the night. Senior forward Rebecca Lyttle was just shy of another double-double with eight points and 14 rebounds, the latter of which marks a season best for Lyttle with a career-high-tying 10 defensive boards.
 
SCOUTING UIC: The Flames will play their first road game in three weeks, having had the luxury of playing their most recent stretch of five games at UIC Pavilion. In that span, UIC was able to pick up its first Horizon League win of the season, taking down Valparaiso in a 74-60 victory on Jan. 28. The Flames have also had promising showings in their previous weekend of play, losing to Cleveland State by four points and Youngstown State by six in overtime.
  
As a team, UIC has proven to be disruptive on defense and aggressive in rebounding. The Flames rank second in League and 37th nationally in steals per game, with 10.2 swipes a contest, as well as second in the League in turnovers forced, at 18 miscues forced per game. The team also ranks fourth in the League in rebounds per game with 39.1 boards a game. However, as good as UIC is at recording steals, the Flames are the bottom team in the League when it comes to protecting the ball, giving up 19.5 turnovers a game. The Flames are also ninth in scoring offense at 60.2 ppg and eighth in scoring defense at 71.1 ppg, resulting in the bottom scoring margin in the League at a -11.0 point differential.
  
Brittany Byrd leads the Flames in scoring with 13.0 ppg and also grabs 5.9 rebounds a game, and Taylor Toney adds 10.7 ppg. On defense, UIC relies on Terri Bender as the top defender, who averages nearly two steals a game while also dishing out 4.9 assists per game.