Women’s basketball drop three straight, fall to Belmont 71-53

After falling to the Belmont Bruins by a score of 71-53 at home on Wednesday night, the NKU women’s basketball team suffered their third straight defeat and dropped to 1-3 on the season.

“Give Belmont a lot of credit,” NKU assistant coach Kayla Bowlin said. “They’re a really great team and an NCAA Tournament team every year, and it’s a good measuring stick for us.”

Despite holding the Bruins to just 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) shooting in the fourth quarter, the Bruins used a 14-0 run in the second quarter and scored 23 points off of turnovers to defeat the young, struggling Norse.

“The first, third and fourth quarters were pretty consistent,” Bowlin said. “We just had that one quarter in stretch that sometimes we fall behind a little bit, but we have to take the positives and move forward because we have another game on Monday.”

After two ties and four lead changes, the Norse held the advantage early, but a few key turnovers in the second quarter allowed the Bruins to regroup and shoot lights out (14-0 run). They bounded into halftime with a 41-22 lead.

After the break, the Bruins held onto their advantage by outscoring the Norse 18-12 in the third quarter and led comfortably 59-34 headed into the fourth. The Norse would shoot 7-of-13 (53.8 percent), including 4-of-7 from three-point range, but it wasn’t enough as the Norse would go on to lose to the reigning Ohio Valley Conference champions.

Grayson Rose led the Norse with eight points and 10 rebounds, while Molly Glick, Kennedy Archer and Emmy Souder each scored nine points in the contest.

“We have to have a positive mindset going into every single game, Bowlin said. “We’re just four games into a very long season.”

The Black & Gold look to bounce back on Monday, Nov. 26 when they travel to Clarksville, Tennessee to take on the Austin Peay Governors (2-3). Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. and will be broadcasted on ESPN+.