ROCHESTER, Mich. – Northern Kentucky women's basketball fought off Oakland for a full 40 minutes, finally pulling away in the final minutes of the contest for a 74-63 victory. The Norse move to 10-17 overall and 9-8 in the Horizon League, matching NKU's most league wins since being welcomed into the league in the 2015-16 season. Oakland drops to 6-22 (3-14 Horizon).
STAT LEADERS
- Ally Niece led NKU with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
- Emmy Souder added 14 points on 3-for-4 shooting from long range.
- Molly Glick and Kailey Coffey also reached double figure with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Glick added seven rebounds while Coffey was just off a double-double with nine boards to go with her career-high-tying five assists.
FIRST HALF SUMMARY
- The Golden Grizzlies came out hot in the opening quarter, shooting 56.3 percent and scoring 18 of their 21 points in the paint.
- NKU outscored Oakland 20-15 in the second quarter, holding its opponent to 37.5 percent from the field, to take a 38-36 edge going into the half.
- After working to tie the contest up for much of the second quarter, Emmy Souder drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to give NKU a 33-28 lead, which the Norse would hold on to for the remainder of the half.
- Niece led the Norse in scoring with eight points at the half, while Coffey contributed six points, six rebounds and four assists.
SECOND HALF SUMMARY
- Oakland started the second half on a 9-2 run to take a 45-40 lead and held onto a slim one-point advantage at the end of the third quarter.
- NKU connected at 50.0 percent from the floor in the final quarter and held Oakland to 23.5 percent, the Golden Grizzlies' lowest percentage of the game.
- After a strong first half in the paint, Oakland was held to just four points down low in the second half.
- Taylor Clos did not score until the 1:17 mark, but she was clutch down the stretch with a corner triple to give NKU a 67-63 lead. The Norse followed it up with a steal from Geist on the defensive end before Niece drew the foul and sank a pair of free throws with 45 seconds to play. NKU continued to crash the boards defensively and drew fouls, with Clos, Coffey and Niece sealing the victory from the free throw line.
NORSE NOTES
- NKU shot 38.7 percent from the floor and held Oakland to 35.4 percent.
- The Norse had a 45-39 advantage on the boards and scored nine second-chance points.
- The team continued to protect the ball well, committing just 10 turnovers while forcing 11 miscues for the Golden Grizzlies.
- The Norse assisted on 83.3 percent of their field goals as the team dished out 20 assists in the victory.
- NKU ended the game on a 13-0 run.
- The all-time series is now 8-6 in favor of Oakland. Since transitioning to Division I, the Norse have gone 5-3 against the Golden Grizzlies.
UP NEXT
- NKU heads to Detroit Mercy for the regular-season finale on Saturday, March 2. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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