Indiana University Indianapolis’s Katie Davidson continued her recent offensive terror against Northern Kentucky in IU Indy’s breast cancer awareness game, but it was the Norse who executed late in the 4th quarter.
Let’s start with the explosion. 27, 24, 28, and 31: that’s Davidson’s offensive output in 4 of her past 5 games, making the defensive outlier (Green Bay held her to 0) all the more impressive.
“(Davidson’s) a senior that doesn’t want to lose right now,” Northern Kentucky head coach Jeff Hans said. “Just playing playing her heart out. She can beat you in so many ways because she can make 3’s, but she’s so strong, getting downhill and using her body to finish at the rim and draw some fouls.”
Two of Davidson’s 31 tied the game on a drive to the right with 24 seconds left in the game, but when Halle Idowu–who led the Norse in scoring with 22–finished a put back on the other end and the Jags advanced the ball with a timeout, it was no surprise to anyone that Davidson would be the target of the play. And it was Idowu who was in the right place again, coming away with the game’s decisive steal.
Davidson’s scoring total (and 5 for 9 behind the 3-point line) was complimented by Faith Stinson who had 13 points and 7 rebounds and Nevaeh Foster with 12 points, 5 assists and 4 steals, as the Jags held the lead for more than 31 minutes.
“I thought our defensive effort picked up a lot,” Hans said. “…that first media timeout was ugly.”
He was referring to a first quarter that at one point saw the Jags hit 3 3-pointers on 4 possessions. They would finish 11-24 from the 3-point line in the game compared to just 3-11 for the Norse.
“That’s an accident,” Hans said about his team landing 5 players in double figures with that few of their points coming from the 3-point line. “No, we want to use the 3. We had to yell at a couple of them to shoot it a few times.”
The Norse’s 25 2-point field goals combined with 23 made free throws were just enough for Northern Kentucky to leave Indianapolis with the 82-79 road Horizon League win.
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