HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky women's basketball enters the postseason as the No. 7 seed in the 2017 Little Caesars Horizon League Championship, and will play No. 10-seeded UIC at noon on Friday, March 3. With a win, the Norse will play No. 2 seed Wright State at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 4. All tournament games preceding the championship final will be carried on the ESPN3 platform, with streaming available on computers, tablets and smart phones through WatchESPN and the ESPN App.
LAST TIME OUT: NKU took on League-leading Green Bay on Senior Day, and the Phoenix came into the game fighting for the top seed in the tournament. Green Bay had a dominant effort in its victory, but the Norse still had key performances out of
Hannah Clark and
Taryn Taugher. Clark had the best game of her young career, going 5-of-7 from long range for a career-best 15 points, while Taugher added 12 points to score in double digits for the fifth straight game.
LYTTLE NAMED TO #HLWBB ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM: Defense has been a staple of the Norse, who have the third-best scoring defense in the Horizon League at 63.5 points allowed per game. At the front line of NKU's defensive effort is senior forward
Rebecca Lyttle, who was named to the all-defensive team on Tuesday afternoon. Lyttle leads the squad in blocks and defensive rebounds, while sitting second on the team in steals. The senior also plays a clean game, as she boasted the fewest fouls per minutes played of the five League players honored on the team.
SCOUTING UIC: The Flames have earned the No. 10 seed for just the second time in program history after finishing the year at 2-16 in League play and 5-24 overall. Historically, UIC has not one a first round game of the Horizon League Championship when seeded No. 8 or lower.
As a team, UIC has proven to be disruptive on defense. The Flames rank second in League and 28th nationally in steals per game, with 10.5 swipes a contest, as well as third in the League in turnovers forced, at 18 miscues forced per 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 19.7 turnovers a game. The Flames are also ninth in scoring offense at 58.3 ppg and eighth in scoring defense at 70.4 ppg, resulting in the bottom scoring margin in the League at a -12.1 point differential.
Brittany Byrd leads the Flames in scoring with 13.1 ppg and also grabs 5.9 rebounds a game, and Taylor Toney adds 10.3 ppg. On defense, UIC relies on Terri Bender as the top defender, who averages over two steals a game while also dishing out 4.8 assists per game.
