The Northern Kentucky women’s basketball team fired on all cylinders on Saturday afternoon, defeating Purdue Fort Wayne, 83-48. The Norse move to 3-4 on the year and remain perfect in conference play at 3-0, while the Mastodons continue their search for a win this season.
STATS LEADERS
- Lindsey Duvall piled on 18 points on 8-for-13 (62 percent) shooting. The redshirt-junior also had six points and an assist on the afternoon.
- Kailey Coffey had a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double performance, going 6-for-8 (75 percent) from the field.
- An explosive first half helped Carissa Garcia reach 16 points on the day to go along with five assists and three rebounds.
- Kennedy Igo notched her first-ever double-figures performance with 12 points on electric 4-for-7 (57 percent) shooting.
TURNING POINT
- The Norse rattled off to a 24-7 advantage in the first quarter thanks to smothering defense and 9-for-16 (56 percent) shooting from the field.
FIRST HALF SUMMARY
- After an empty possession by each team to start things off, Turner swished a three off a feed from Ally Niece, putting the Norse up 3-0 to kick things off.
- Purdue followed an Ivy Turner score with a layup, but NKU kept pouring on the points. Rose gave the Norse two with a bucket down low and Duvall carved up the Mastodon defense in the fastbreak for another four on back-to-back possessions, putting NKU up 9-2 with 5:48 in the first.
- The momentum continued in favor of the Norse, as NKU found itself in a 10-2 run after six-unanswered points by Garcia and a layup by Souder at the 3:58 mark in the quarter.
- The first quarter ended with NKU on a 17-5 run, with the last seven points from the Norse being unanswered. Garcia hit another jumper, followed by a three-pointer by Igo and a pair of free throws by Irvin to give the Norse a 24-7 edge.
- By the 4:57 mark in the second, NKU furthered the gap even more as its defense held the Mastodons scoreless for almost four minutes of play and to a stifling 1-for-11 (9 percent) clip in their last 11 field-goal attempts.
- A three-point barrage from NKU closed out the half with a pair of triples from Garcia and shots from beyond the arc falling for Souder and Igo.
- The Norse went into the break with a crushing 46-16 advantage thanks in part to an 8-for-16 (50 percent) mark from long range. Garcia finished the half with 14 points on 5-for-7 (71 percent) shooting.
SECOND HALF SUMMARY
- The offense flowed for Purdue Fort Wayne to open the new half, but Coffey, Duvall and Rose made shots by the 6:26 mark in the third to keep the Norse lead intact. Coffey went to the line with 5:40 left in the quarter and split a pair of free throws to make it 54-24, NKU.
- Garcia dished on back-to-back possessions beginning at the 3:55 mark in the third. The first went to Igo for her third three-pointer of the afternoon and the second found Coffey for an easy layup.
- After Purdue Fort Wayne closed out the third quarter with seven-unanswered points, a slew of points followed for Coffey as she contributed seven in less than two minutes of play.
- Duvall stretched the NKU lead back to 30 with a jumper and another long-range shot with 3:26 left.
- The biggest Norse lead of the day was attained with the final score of the afternoon. Emma Palmer laid one in with 20 seconds left to bring the score to 83-48.
GAME NOTES
- NKU has never started Horizon League play undefeated after three games. This is also the first 3-0 start in conference play since the Norse started 4-0 in the Atlantic Sun Conference during the 2013-14 season.
- NKU’s 83 points is the most since a March 3 matchup against Detroit Mercy last season (94). The last time NKU scored between 80 and 89 points was also in blowout fashion, with the Norse taking down the Titans by 21 points on Feb. 27, 2020.
- Coffey’s double-double is the sixth of her career, and her first since having 14 points and 11 rebounds against Wright State on Jan. 12, 2019.
- Coffey is now just four rebounds away (721) from tying Cindy Schlarman (725) for 11th on the all-time rebounding list for NKU.
- With three blocks on the afternoon, Grayson Rose is now sixth all-time for the Norse in that category (103), passing Linda Honigford (99).
- Garcia’s 16 points and Coffey’s 14 points are both season-highs.
- Another strong game for the Norse on the boards keeps their average-margin at +11.4 boards a game (42.0-30.6).
UP NEXTThe Norse stay in Fort Wayne to take on the Mastodons one more time tomorrow at noon. The matchup will be streamed to ESPN+.
–Robby Johnson – Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant (WSOC/MSOC/BASE)- Communications and Media Services – Northern Kentucky University