HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky women's basketball enters the postseason on Tuesday, March 3, as the Norse host No. 9 seed Detroit Mercy in the first round of the 2020 Horizon League Championship. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be carried on ESPN+. Admission will be $6 for adults and $5 for youth, and the first 300 fans will receive t-shirts courtesy of Dead Low Brewing Company.

LAST TIME OUT: The Norse ended the regular season with a 67-65 road win at Oakland. Ally Niece posted a career-high 24 points in the victory, which went down-to-the-wire as the sophomore sank a free throw to give the Norse a one-point lead with six seconds remaining. Emmy Souder made a clutch block on the potential game-winning basket for the Golden Grizzlies, and Kailey Coffey added a free throw to give the Norse their final two-point lead. Souder also finished in double figures with 11 points. On Monday afternoon, Niece was named the Horizon League Player of the Week, marking the first time that a Norse has received the distinction since Jan. 25, 2016.
 
POSTSEASON HONORS: With the announcement of the Horizon League's postseason honors on Monday morning, three Norse hauled in distinction. Niece and Molly Glick were both named to the All-Horizon League Second Team, marking the first time since the 2014-15 season that NKU has had two all-league performers, while Turner was named to the all-freshman team.
 
FRESHMAN PHENOMS: Northern Kentucky is the only institution to have had two rookies named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week two times apiece. Carissa Garcia is the most recent recipient after she averaged 15.5 points per game in victories over UIC and IUPUI, including a career-high 20 points and 4-for-7 from beyond the arc against the Flames. She also earned the distinction on Dec. 9 following her performance against No. 2/2 Louisville, in which she led the team with 13 points and five assists.
  
Turner has also been making an immediate impact in her rookie campaign, starting in all 29 contests for the Norse. The Danville, Kentucky, native is third on the team in scoring with 8.5 points per game, and is the most utilized player on the team at 30.6 mpg. Turner also averages 2.1 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game. She was named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week for the second time this season on Jan. 13 after averaging 10.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game against UIC and IUPUI. Earlier on Dec. 2, she earned her first weekly distinction after helping the Norse record three victories over Central Arkansas, Jacksonville State and FIU. Turner had double-digit scoring efforts in each game, averaging 12.7 ppg at 55.0 percent from the floor. She also added 5.3 rpg and dished out five assists while nabbing three steals.
 
BRAINS AND BRAWN: On Feb. 20, junior forward Coffey was honored by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) as an Academic All-District member for the second season. Coffey is one of just seven student-athletes out of 42 Division I honorees with an unblemished grade point average. In addition to her stellar classroom performance, Coffey is NKU's leading rebounder and has had eight double-digit rebounding performances this season. She is now eligible for Academic All-America honors, which will be announced on Monday, March 9. Coffey also repeated as a Horizon League All-Academic Team honoree, which was announced on Feb. 27.
 
NORSE VS THE HORIZON LEAGUE: During Horizon League play, the Norse finished among the top of the league in several statistical categories, ranking in the top-four in scoring offense (66.6 ppg), scoring defense (59.1 ppg), scoring margin (+7.5), rebounding margin (+5.1), 3-point field-goal percentage (30.6 percent), blocks per game (3.0), steals (7.5) and turnover margin (+1.9). Individually, Grayson Rose ranked second in the league with 1.6 blocks per game, while Niece ranked third in assists per game (3.9), seventh with a 1.43 assist-to-turnover ratio and ninth in scoring (12.6 ppg). Coffey pulled down 8.21rpg to rank fifth in the league, Turner's 1.3 steals per game ranked eighth and Molly Glick's 1.5 triples per game ranked 10th.
 
MILESTONE TRACKER: On Dec. 1, Glick was sent to the free throw line following a technical foul called on Florida International. Making both shots gave the redshirt-senior her 1,000th career point, making her the 30th Norse to hit the milestone in program history. Glick is also just the second player to score 1,000 points in the Division I era. Christine Roush was the first fully D-I player to hit 1,000 career points, as she finished her 2012-16 career with 1,439 points. Melody Doss (2011-15) also reached 1,154 points in her career, but played her freshman campaign in the Division II era. Glick currently has 1,211 career points and is 41 points away from cracking NKU's all-time top-20.
  
Glick also has 203 career 3-pointers, overtaking Michele Tuchfarber (1997-2001) for third on NKU's all-time career 3-pointers list. She has made at least two 3-pointers in 16 of NKU's 29 contests. The redshirt-senior has started in all but two games in her collegiate career, good for second all-time (120).
  
A pair of juniors is also climbing the ranks in the NKU laurels, as Rose currently has 88 career blocks, good for seventh on the all-time list, and her 36 blocks on the season are just three away from cracking the single-season top-10 list. Coffey has also been making her way up the all-time rebounding list, currently sitting at 15th with 649 career caroms and is 82 away from breaking into the top-10.
 
SCOUTING DETROIT MERCY: The Titans finished the regular season with a 3-24 mark, including 3-15 in league play. Their only wins of the year came against UIC (twice) and Cleveland State. Detroit Mercy averaged 56.8 points per game while surrendering 69.5 ppg in league action. The Titans have also been turnover prone, committing 17.7 miscues a game. All-freshman team honoree Sylare Starks is the only Titan averaging double figures, pacing the team with 10.3 ppg. Detroit Mercy's rookies have been making an impact in their first seasons, as three of the team's top-five scorers are freshmen.
  
Northern Kentucky holds an 8-3 advantage in the all-time series with the Titans, which dates back to the 2015-16 campaign when the Norse joined the Horizon League. NKU has won the last seven meetings, most recently taking down Detroit Mercy less than a week ago, 82-61 on Feb. 27.