HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky women's basketball takes on its toughest opponent of the year, traveling to Louisville to take on the No. 4/3 Cardinals on Saturday, Dec. 15. Tipoff is slated for 11:30 a.m. ET and the game will be carried on ACC Network Extra.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Norse dropped another close one on Dec. 7, falling 58-53 to Illinois State. NKU has five losses on the season, three of which were by a margin of five points or fewer. Kailey Coffey had her most well-rounded performance of the year, leading the Norse with 17 points to go with four assists, three rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Molly Glick joined Coffey in double-digit scoring with 11 points, going 3-for-6 from 3-point range. Glick now has 103 career triples and is just one away from cracking NKU's all-time top-10 list.
 
SCOUTING LOUISVILLE: The Cardinals are one of just 18 teams in the nation with an unblemished record, holding a 10-0 mark. Louisville is ranked No. 4 in the most recent AP Top 25 and is No. 3 in the USA Today/Coaches Poll, and has been ranked in the top-five of both polls since Nov. 28, 2017. The Cardinals boast the seventh-best scoring offense nationally, averaging 86.4 points per game while holding teams to 63.9 points per game. The team is also highly efficient at scoring, ranking No. 6 nationally at 51.1 percent from the floor. Louisville shares the ball well with 18.1 assists per game and boasts a 1.18 assist-to-turnover ratio, led by Dana Evans and Asia Durr with 4.5 and 3.5 assists per game, respectively.
  
Durr is Louisville's standout performer as she ranks eighth nationally with 22.8 points per game and has made 32 3-pointers on the season, good for 13th in the nation. The senior southpaw guard is the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and was named a First Team All-American by the WBCA, USBWA, Associated Press and USA Today. In the post, Louisville leans on 6-foot-3 Sam Fuehring and 6-foot-4 Kylee Shook. Fuehring leads the team on the glass with 6.5 rebounds per contest and is averaging 10.9 points per game, while Shook is the team's primary shot blocker with 15 rejections this season to go with 7.4 points and 5.6 rebounds a contest.
           
Saturday's meeting will be the first in the Division I era, with the two squads last squaring off during the 1989-90 season. Northern Kentucky holds a 12-11 edge in the all-time series, but the Cardinals have won seven of the 10 contests played in Louisville.
 
NORSE COACHES SHOW: Dickmann's Sports Café, located on Orphanage Road in Fort Wright, Kentucky, will host the kick-off for the Norse Coaches Show featuring men's basketball head coach John Brannen and women's basketball head coach Camryn Whitaker on Monday, Dec. 17. Dickmann's, which is also official watch party location for all Norse athletics, is hosting the Norse happy hour from 5-7 p.m., with a free wing buffet from 5-6 p.m. The coaches show will air from 7-8 p.m. on 55KRC.