Highland Heights, KY – The accelerated start time of Saturday’s game to avoid the looming snowmageddon didn’t seem to phase the Mastodons’ offensive game plan. Looking to steal back a win on the road at Northern Kentucky (10-13, 7-5 Horizon League), the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (13-8, 7-4 Horizon League) needed to score early and often to avoid a repeat of the overtime heartbreak in December when a struggling NKU squad marched into Fort Wayne and stunned the home crowd. The Mastodons started off perfect, stayed hot, and then let their foot off the gas, allowing this game to get as close as it could as the fourth quarter buzzer sounded. The Mastodons regained themselves and took over in overtime, winning 97-91.
The Mastodons had a similar start to their Cleveland State victory by starting the game a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor with Alana Nelson, Jordan Reid, Rylee Bess, and Lauren Lee all connecting on driving layups at the rim. Bess added a three-pointer in the middle of that, giving the Mastodons an 11-0 lead in the first three minutes of play. Shaking off the left jabs and uppercuts from the ‘Dons offensive attack, the Norse were able to reestablish themselves and remind the home crowd that they have already beat this Mastodon team this season, then proceeded to rattle off six more shots in a row. An early, balanced attack from Mya Meredith, Karina Bystry, and Taysha Rushton brought the deficit back to four, where the teams would trade blows until the quarter end.
Bystry would hit her second three-pointer of four total on the afternoon to make it a 17-15 game in favor of the Mastodons with less than a minute to play in the first. After a Fort Wayne Komets-esque line change, the Mastodons got a basket from Lee in the mid-range. Bystry got fouled late in the shot clock on the ensuing possession and hit both from the stripe. With five seconds remaining in the quarter, Reid took the ball the length of the court, pulled up just inside the right wing three-point line and nailed the shot as the buzzer sounded. The ‘Dons took a 21-17 lead into the quarter break, but they would have to do some more damage to keep the Norse down.
Out of the break, the Norse were unable to convert on a set drawn up by head coach Jeff Hans. On the other end, a rare but very capable scorer in Lee knocked down a triple to bring the lead back to seven. Bystry’s two made free throws to follow were counteracted by two free throws from Lee and a basket by Nelson. Bess, Nika Lokica, and Ella Riggs each added a three-pointer for the Mastodons in the second quarter in addition to Lee’s. The Mastodons finished 5-for-10 from beyond the arc in the first half. Not to be outdone, the Norse would also hit five triples in the half, but they would do so on 18 attempts. Smooth sailing appeared to be ahead for the ‘Dons as they took a 41-31 lead into the halftime break. However, the Norse would not let their snekke sink without a fight.
The third quarter looked to be the beginning of the end for the Norse when Nelson hit a 24-foot three-pointer to start the scoring in the second half, giving the Mastodons their largest lead of the game at 13. Bystry, however, refused to go away, hitting a three of her own on the ensuing possession. Bystry would go on to score 11 points in the third with three more layups, including a tough and-one with one second remaining in the quarter. As for the ‘Dons, they didn’t have a bad third quarter offensively. PFW still tallied 21 points as a team in the quarter, but the Norse’s 27 closed the gap, readying the fourth quarter for some major mid-major action.
The four point deficit quickly disappeared with Abby Wolterman grabbing an offensive rebound and a tip-in, followed by a Maddie Moody layup in the first 90 seconds of play in the fourth, for the first tie in the game since the opening tip. The ‘Dons would do their best to pull away with a Reid layup and Bess three-pointer only for Rushton to respond with a deep ball of her own for the Norse. Bystry made her eighth free throw on as many attempts, and Rushton found the bottom of the net again from the outside to take a 72-70 Norse lead with 4:31 remaining in regulation. Purdue Fort Wayne’s Lili Krasovec made a layup on the next trip down the court for the ‘Dons to tie the game at 72-all.
As if these two teams didn’t have enough drama in their first matchup of the season, the final two minutes of the quarter should satisfy any Norse or Mastodon fan for the rest of the season. For the mid-major fanatic? This is the best part of the game. PFW’s Nelson made an errant pass under pressure, allowing Rushton to grab the ball for the steal. After a timeout by NKU, Moody made the Truist Arena crowd go bananas with a three-pointer from Wolterman to put the Norse ahead 79-76. Understanding they had time, but needed to be urgent, the Mastodons went on attack where Rylee Bess drew a foul and sank both free throws. On the next possession, the NAIA-transfer and scoring powerhouse Nelson put her body on the line and drew a charge on a driving Meredith. Continuing her hustle, after a long rebound saw Bystry running down the court with an open lane to the hoop, Nelson was able to lunge and back-pick the ball out of bounds, allowing the ‘Dons to reset.
On the broken set play, Rushton was able to get through the Mastodon defense and lay it high off the glass for a three point lead. Down on the other end, the ACC experience of Krasovec came into play as she fought through three Northern Kentucky defenders to secure an offensive rebound, and on the same motion she threw the ball off the glass, off the rim, and in for the old fashioned three point play opportunity. She hit the free throw, tying the game at 81-81 with 24 seconds left.
The Norse held for the final shot with the shot clock off. With time winding down, Moody took a driving shot over the tall arms of Nelson and Krasovec. After hitting iron, Nelson, Krasovec, and Moody all went after the ball. The ball ended up out of bounds, and the initial call on the floor was Mastodon basketball. Coach Hans appealed this call, sending the officiating crew to the monitor for a very crucial review. After nearly four minutes of review and discussion, the call was overturned. It would be Norse basketball with 1.2 remaining on the clock.
In the break, NKU drew up a set for the baseline out of bounds play. The questionable decision to have Bystry inbound the ball left the Mastodons wondering who would be the target for the final shot. With the other four players aligned in a box around the key, Meredith took three steps up the key to fake a screen for her teammate at the elbow. When the Purdue Fort Wayne defenders started calling out the screen, Meredith drop stepped and hooked around her defender for a wide open pass under the hoop. However, in the motion of hooking around her defender, Meredith’s elbow floated a little too high and caught Lee in the face, forcing an offensive foul and turnover. After review once again, it was decided the contact was inadvertent and would not be upgraded to a flagrant.
With a timeout, the Mastodons were able to move the ball to the other half of the court to set up a sideline out of bounds play to take the game winning shot. With Bess having the hot hand, she was guarded tightly. Krasovec was able to get a seal on her defender in the post, but the inbounder Reid threw the ball too high and straight out of bounds on the baseline, much to the double face-palm dismay of head coach Maria Marchesano. The Norse would call a timeout to advance it to their side of the court and to draw up a new set.
The set now had Meredith inbounding the ball, causing Bystry to be tightly guarded. Bystry was able to draw the attention of the Mastodons away from the basket, where Moody received a backscreen from Rushton for a lob at the basket. Krasovec saw this just in time to get a hand up and tip the ball out of play, causing the horn to sound and sending it to overtime. The play came with some controversy as well, as Bess flattened Rushton fighting to get to Moody at the basket, but no defensive foul was called. With the Norse in the bonus, a foul on Bess more than likely seals the game for the Norse.
In the extra frame, the ‘Dons came out swinging once again. After Bystry made a layup on the first possession, Bess and Nelson both hit threes on back to back possessions, and Krasovec made two crucial free throws to put the Mastodons up by six, 87-83. Bystry would add three more points to her afternoon with a free throw and a layup. Reid and Lee tried to keep NKU at bay with a layup from Reid and two free throws from Lee. Lee was sent to the line by a foul on Moody, her fifth of the game, sending her to the bench. With the pressure ramped up by NKU, Nelson found herself open for a layup under the hoop for a 95-86 lead. Kamora Morgan hit a rainbow three in front of her bench to put the game back to two possessions, but an offensive rebound and two made free throws from Krasovec would seal the game for the ‘Dons.
The 3x Horizon League freshman of the week Bystry scored 27 of her career-high 35 points in the final 25 minutes of play, five of which came in the extra frame. Bystry was on the court for 43 of the 45 minutes of the game. Both Lee and Bess played 40 minutes for the ‘Dons. Lee matched her Purdue Fort Wayne scoring high with 11 points, including a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
The Mastodons were led in scoring by Bess with her career-high 27 points on 8-for-14 shooting, including 4-for-9 from deep and a perfect 7-for-7 from the line. The smallest player on the court also added a career high five rebounds. All of the Mastodons starters ended in double figures with Reid (19) and Nelson (16) adding their usual contributors to the scorer’s sheet. Krasovec (10) and Lee (11) shot a combined 10-for-11 from the stripe. As a team, the Mastodons made a much needed 22 free throws on 28 attempts. Both the makes and attempts are team highs on the season. The Mastodons shot a very good 47% from the floor, while holding the Norse to a slightly below average 37% from the field.
The Norse also had five players in double figures. Bystry’s 35 points were aided by 14 from Meredith, 11 from Moody and Morgan, and 10 from Rushton. The team finished with 12 made three-pointers, nearly five more than their season average. With her performance, Bystry creeps closer to Nelson’s current scoring title with 17.0 points per game (Nelson leads the Horizon League at 18.3 ppg).
A few stats stick out as the potential difference in the game. The Mastodons have been regarded as having one of the deeper benches in the Horizon League. The Mastodons rank 4th in the Horizon League in bench points per game with 21.3. Last time these two teams played, the Norse outscored the Mastodon bench 34-22. On Saturday, the Norse only mustered 16 bench points and the Mastodons stayed close with 14. A large difference in bench production is obviously expected with the promotion of Bess to the starting lineup for the last three games for the ‘Dons.
Another huge difference maker in the game was the rebounding battle. The Norse lead the Horizon League at 38.6 per game, while the Mastodons are nearly rock bottom with 34.0 per game, just above IU Indy. The large difference in rebounding ability was not apparent in this game, with PFW actually winning the rebounding battle 46-41. Nelson for PFW and Moody for NKU each had a game-high eight rebounds, but Reid and Krasovec’s seven apiece may have been the difference.
One statistic that may have made it a closer game than the ‘Dons would have liked were the turnovers. The Mastodons lead the Horizon League in turnover margin, forcing 3.86 turnovers more per game than they give up. The Norse would flip the script in this one, forcing 13 Mastodon turnovers to their 10.
The 97 points scored by Purdue Fort Wayne is now the highest point total scored in a Horizon League game this season. Northern Kentucky’s 91 sits in second place. The 97 points by PFW also allowed them to jump into the scoring per game lead at 73.1 ppg, 2.0 points ahead of 12-0 Green Bay. The Phoenix still hold the largest scoring margin at 16.0 points per game, however, while PFW is in a very distant second at 5.8 points per game.
The Mastodons will be back in action on Tuesday, January 27 in Fort Wayne, assuming the weather conditions allow. The ‘Dons are scheduled for another revenge game – this time with Robert Morris. The Colonials took the first matchup in Moon Township earlier in the month, 74-64. The series history is currently knotted up at 6-6. A win on Tuesday would give the ‘Dons a win over RMU in each of the last four seasons. The game is set for tip off at 7:00pm ET, and it will be broadcasted on ESPN+ as well as live on-air locally on WELT 95.7 FM. The team will recognize National Girls and Women in Sports Day before and during the contest.
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