No. 5 Northern Kentucky 76, No. 9 Valparaiso 53
The defense of No. 5 Northern Kentucky proved to be too much for No. 9 Valparaiso as the Norse advance to the semifinals of the Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship with a 76-53 win Friday evening.
Northern Kentucky began the game with an 8-0 run and surged the rest of the first half to an eventual 11-point lead at intermission, 40-19. The Norse forced 11 turnovers and grabbed eight steals in the beginning 20 minutes as Valparaiso struggled from the field only shooting 27.3 percent in comparison to Northern Kentucky’s 50.0 percent.
Valparaiso came out the second half with solid adjustments and went 9-for-18 from the floor in the third period to keep pace with Northern Kentucky’s 10-for-18 shooting. The Norse had a 23-point advantage going into the final frame and didn’t look back as each team tallied 13 points in the remaining 10 minutes.
Valparaiso has three student-athletes reach double-figures in Jasmyn Walker (11 points), Dani Franklin (11 points) and senior Abby Dean (10 points).
Freshman Molly Glick posted a career night for the Norse with 18 points and six rebounds while Kasey Uetrecht also tallied 18 points. Molly Franson came off the bench for Northern Kentucky to have a solid night of 11 points and grabbed two rebounds.
Northern Kentucky plays No. 1 Green Bay tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. ET at the Kress Events Center in Green Bay, Wis. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3.
No. 3 Wright State 81, No. 6 Youngstown State 54
No. 3 Wright State got off to a 20-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back as the team defeated No. 6 Youngstown State, 81-54 in the second game of the quarterfinal round of the Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship.
The Raiders produced a balanced offense throughout the game in which saw six players reach double-figures. Riche van der Keijl and Symone Simmons each posted 15 points while Lexi Smith (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Symone Denham (13 points, 11 rebounds) tallied double-doubles. Kim Demmings was in foul trouble early in the second half netted 13 points while Mackenzie Taylor had 10 points.
Youngstown State struggled to convert field goals, making just 29.2 percent for the contest in comparison to Wright State’s 50.8 percent. In addition, the Raiders out-rebounded the Penguins 54-28 in the matchup despite having 14 turnovers versus Youngstown State’s 10.
Sarah Cash had a game-high of 17 points for Youngstown State as Alison Smolinski accumulated 11 points and Nikki Arbanas had 10.
Wright State faces No. 2 Milwaukee tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. ET in the second semifinal contest. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3.
Tags: Horizon League - Women's Basketball
