Fresh off an overtime thriller against Southern Indiana, the NKU Lady Norse drew the short straw and began Horizon League conference play by welcoming in defending champion Green Bay. The Phoenix were coming off a 76-59 loss at Richmond over the weekend and looked to go 1-0 out of the gates in defense of their title.
The Norse gave the visitors all they could handle for 40 minutes but eventually came up on the short end losing 70-60.
The first quarter was a competitive one from the start as both teams traded baskets and rotated lineups trying to find the right mix. As the contest headed to the first media timeout, Green Bay held a slim 11-9 advantage due in part to the excellent play of the NKU trio of Kylee Hunt, Karina Bystry, and Abby Wolterman.
Out of the timeout, Green Bay wasted no time taking advantage of two Norse turnovers by getting the ball to sophomore big Megan Schultz who converted on both attempts to extend the Phoenix lead to 15-9.
A Hunt runner at the horn pulled the Norse to within 19-15 – all set up by a Bystry defensive play where she positioned herself in the right place drawing a charge on Green Bay’s Kamy Peppler.
The start of the second quarter saw Horizon League Freshman of the Week Maddie Moody and Green Bay’s Gracie Grzesk match each other from behind the arc as the game continued its fast back and forth pace, all leading up to the television timeout and the Phoenix holding a 27-22 edge.
A pair of Hunt free throws kept the Norse close with 1:28 remaining in the half, but Green Bay would hold the Norse scoreless while going on a 10-0 run to close out the half highlighted by a deep three from the corner by Kallie Peppler that pushed the Phoenix lead to double digits at 37-25, their largest of the game.
NKU was led in scoring for the half by Hunt’s 11 points and Moody with five points to go along with five rebounds.
The most telling stat from the first half was the horrid Norse shooting. NKU shot 16% from the field (5-30) and 13% (2-16) from behind the arc.
Green Bay on the other hand shot a staggering 55% from the field and 75% from behind the arc. Grzesk and Kallie Peppler led the Phoenix with ten points each. Megan Schultz chipped in seven points.
The second half started with Green Bay picking up right where they left off as they went on a quick 5-0 run and forcing Norse head coach Jeff Hans to burn a quick timeout less than ninety seconds in. The Phoenix would push their run to 9-0 before a Mia Jordan three from the top of the key stopped the bleeding and cut the Phoenix lead to 46-28.
Green Bay would extend their lead to eighteen at 60-42 as the third quarter ended.
NKU could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way but continued to show fight up to the final horn.
The Norse finished the game shooting 30% from the field and 23% from behind the arc. Moody, Hunt and Mya Meredith tied for team honors in scoring with eleven each. Moodie also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out two assists. Jordan and Abby Wolterman each pulled down six rebounds of their own.
Coaches Corner
Hans’ assessment on how he saw the game: “confidence just wasn’t there like it was the last few games. I thought our execution wasn’t great early on, so you gotta go and make a lot of great plays and against a team like that who is disciplined and very solid defensively and they put you in some tough spots, and when you get open looks, you need to knock them down.”
On the fight of his team: “That is a key thing to take away from tonight, we didn’t quit, we just need to do it more often and have that sense of urgency.”
Next Up:
NKU continues their homestand as they welcome in Robert Morris – a team that ended the Norse season last year in the Horizon League Tournament – for a matinee matchup on Sunday. Tip set for 1:00pm.
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