By: Luke Rinne, Assistant Sports Information Director
Box Score Highland Heights, Ky. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners gave top-ranked Northern Kentucky all it wanted but in the end it was the Norse who were able to escape with a
67-61 victory on Thursday evening at The Bank of Kentucky Center.
The game got off to a good start for the Lady Miners (8-8, 2-6 GLVC) as they scored six of the first eight points in the contest all courtesy of
Tamara McCaskill. After NKU (16-0, 8-0 GLVC) tied the game at 8-8 they proceeded to go a 14-2 run spanning nearly seven minutes building their largest lead of the evening at 22-11.
The Lady Miners though began chipping away at the lead getting a bucket from McCaskill and baskets from the freshman duo of
Julie Meyer and
Brittany Percival (Hartville, Mo./Hartville ) to cut the deficit down to six. A Brandi Rayburn lay-up put NKU back up seven with just under a minute to play but a three-pointer by
Lauren Dubbert (Madison, Mo./Madison) with 0:25 left sent S&T into the locker room trailing 25-21.
Each team hit eight shots in the frame but it was Northern Kentucky's three-point shooting that gave it the upper hand knocking down 4-of-8 from behind the arc opposed to S&T's 1-for-6 shooting from downtown. McCaskill led the Lady Miners with 10 points in the frame while Rayburn finished with nine to lead NKU.
S&T forced 12 Norse turnovers in the opening frame converting those into 12 points and had six second chance points against just two for NKU.
The Lady Miners opened the second half with a 12-5 run and retook the lead on a
Jazmine Bell (Euclid, Ohio/Euclid) three-pointer just 3:30 into the frame. The Norse answered right back with a jumper from Rayburn to regain a 30-29 advantage before S&T scored the game's next four points building a three point lead.
After trading baskets the Northern Kentucky regained the lead on a three-pointer by Danyelle Echoles before the Lady Miners tied it back up on a lay-up by Meyer. The Norse though took the lead for good with a 6-0 spurt eventually building its lead to 51-43 with 6:47 to play.
S&T refused to quit though thanks to an 8-2 surge behind six points from Bell and
Katie McElrath (Owasso, Okla./Owasso). McElrath's lay-up with 4:08 to play cut the deficit to just two. After another three-pointer by Echoles but NKU back up five McCaskill converted on an old-fashioned three-point play to get back within a pair at 56-54 at the 3:28 mark.
The Norse stretched their lead back to six with 1:31 to play before McCaskill buried a three cutting the deficit to 62-59 with 1:17 left then
Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown) got a steal and scored with 0:44 remaining to get it down to one.
After a foul by S&T sent NKU went to the line making 1-of-2 it gave the Lady Miners a chance to tie the game but Dubbert's lay-up was blocked by Cassie Brannen and the Norse hit all four of its free throws in the final 0:20 to hang on for the win.
After a cold-shooting first half each side warmed up in the second as S&T was 16-for-35 (46 percent) from the field while Northern Kentucky was a little stronger making 53 percent (10-of-19) from the floor and 5-for-10 from downtown and 17-of-18 at the foul line.
S&T dominated the paint in the second stanza outscoring the Norse 22-6 but NKU and had five second chance points compared to none for Northern Kentucky.
McCaskill finished with 16 points to lead the Lady Miners and was joined in double digits by McElrath with 13 all coming in the second half.
Rayburn led all scorers with a game-high 17. Jessie Slack finished with 16 and Brannen added 13 to lead the Norse.
S&T concludes its trip to Kentucky with a game against Bellarmine University on Saturday afternoon afternoon beginning at 12 p.m. (CST) in Louisville, Ky.
