The Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team saw their season come to a end when they were not selected for the Division II NCAA Tournament.

The Norse started the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Feb. 26 with a 61-51 win over the Kentucky Wesleyan College Panthers. Junior forward Sadie Bowling led three Norse in double figures with 16 points. The win helped the Norse jump to the eighth-ranked team in the regional rankings.

However, they were not able to hold on to that spot, as the University of Indianapolis Greyhounds defeated the Norse March 4, by a score of 61-57 in the quarterfinals of the GLVC tournament. The Greyhounds finished the game on an 8-0 run to rally for the victory. Junior guard Casse Mogan led the Norse with 24 points, and sophomore guard Jaimie Hamlet added 10 points in the losing effort. The Norse were forced to play without Bowling, who broke her leg in a shoot around before the game. The loss dropped the Norse out of the top eight in the regional rankings, ending their season without a trip to the NCAA tournament.

The Norse finished the season with a 18-10 record overall which included an 11-7 mark in the GLVC. The Norse took full advantage of their home court by posting a 12-1 mark at the Bank of Kentucky Center.

The Norse were led by Mogan who averaged 17.8 points per contest. That average was the tops in the GLVC. Mogan also averaged 2.57 steals, which was second in the conference. She was named to the All-Great Lakes Valley Conference first team and also to the Daktronics All-Midwest Region first team.

Bowling was the second leading scorer on the team with 9.3 points, and was the fifth-leading rebounder in the conference with 7.3 rebounds.

The Norse relied on their defense this season. They led the conference in scoring defense (53.2), field goal percentage defense (.352) and blocked shots (4.14).

Story by John Minor