HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. –Northern Kentucky women's basketball travels to Clarksville, Tennessee, for a Monday night tilt with Austin Peay. The Norse will tip off against the Governors at 7 p.m. CT/8 ET on Nov. 26, and the contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
LAST TIME OUT: NKU fell to the reigning Ohio Valley champion, Belmont, on Wednesday evening, 71-53. The Norse held pace with the Bruins, who had been ranked in the AP and USA Today/Coaches polls a season ago, for the majority of the contest, but the Bruins used a 27-6 second quarter to pull away for the win.
Kennedy Archer,
Molly Glick and
Emmy Souder each contributed nine points to the effort, with Archer and Glick sinking three 3-pointers apiece while Souder and
Grayson Rose chipped in two triples each. Rose was just off a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds.
KEEPING IT 100: Molly Glick is just one 3-pointer away from hitting the 100th triple of her career, which would make her the 13th Norse in program history to sink 100 shots from long range. The redshirt-junior guard has been averaging 1.46 3-pointers per game in her career, and has made 99 triples in 68 games played. Last season, Glick made 64 buckets from beyond the arc, putting her at sixth on NKU's all-time single-season list. She also needs just five more 3-pointers to crack NKU's all-time career top-10 list, as 104 3-pointers would put her in a three-way tie for ninth with Amy Mobley (1999-2003) and Kayla Thacker (2010-14).
SCOUTING AUSTIN PEAY: The Governors hold a 2-3 record in the early goings of the season, defeating Christian Brothers and Trevecca while falling to Cincinnati, Vanderbilt and Mississippi Valley. Junior forward Arielle Gonzalez-Varner has been leading Austin Peay in multiple categories, averaging a double-double of 13.6 points and 12.6 rebounds per game while also pacing the team with three blocks and eight steals. Gonzalez-Varner currently ranks 15th in the NCAA in rebounds per game and is coming off a 32-point, 23-rebound effort versus MVSU. Keisha Gregory has also been contributing double-digit scoring efforts and is averaging 11.0 ppg, and the sophomore twin tandem of Brianah and Brandi Ferby have been posting 9.8 ppg and 7.8 ppg, respectively.
As a team, the Governors have been averaging 79.4 points per game and have been efficient from the floor at a 41.8 percent. However, Austin Peay allows opponents to score 80.6 ppg at 51.7 percent from the field. Austin Peay has also been converting well from 3-point range, shooting 34.2 percent from beyond the arc, led by the Ferby sisters with 21 of the team's 54 made 3-pointers. The Governors have also been dominant on the boards, outrebounding opponents 40.4-33.8.
Last season marked the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Austin Peay squeaked out a one-point win, 53-52, on Dec. 5, 2017, inside BB&T Arena.
