The NKU women’s basketball team was back at Truist Arena on Friday night as they took on the Cedarville Yellow Jackets, winning 81-67 and improving to 2-2 on the season after getting their first home win in the Jeff Hans coaching era.

Prior to tipoff, Jeff Hans was honored after getting his first career win as NKU’s head coach last week against Marshall, winning 80-78. 

In the first quarter, things got competitive from the opening tip, as the two teams were trading the lead back and forth. The Cedarville offense would finish the first quarter shooting 61% from the floor while the Norse shot 38%. That efficiency helped them work their way to a 18-15 advantage after quarter number one. 

The Norse were starting to get on a run in the first three minutes of the second quarter, when Macey Blevins knocked down two three-pointers as the Norse went on a 6-0 run to take the lead 25-19. However, Cedarville was not going down without a fight as Brianna Zajicek ended the run with a layup and Ella Sellars tied it back up, knocking down both free throws. 

Before halftime, both teams continued to trade the lead back and forth, but NKU had the edge, leading 38-35 at the half. 

The Norse started out the second half hot, with freshman Anna Hamilton knocking down a big three-pointer putting the Norse up 41-37. NKU would extend the lead with two buckets from Blevins and a three-pointer by Jaci Jones putting the Norse up 48-39. The Norse finished the third quarter shooting 66% from the floor and leading 65-53. 

The Norse offense outlasted the Yellow Jackets in transition, scoring 17 fastbreak points while Cedarville had only five.  

Hans gave his offense credit after the game, but knows they still have work to do. 

“I thought our biggest takeaway was we were able to go out and score when we got some steals, misses and deflections being active like we are supposed to,” Hans said. “One thing they like to do is press right after they score and they want to send four or five to the board. We had to  secure the rebounds first and I thought we were able to do that and get out in transition and score some easy ones because if we got in the half court we may look a little tough sometimes, but that’s the fourth game of the year and got to work on some things.” 

Blevins was dominant in her performance and led the Norse, scoring 22 points.  

“As a team we could have been better,” Blevins said. “But I thought we came out in the second half with more energy. We played better on defense which led to easier offense and like coach said, we were shaky in the half court sometimes. Individually my teammates were finding me, especially in transition, getting a few buckets and kick outs on threes and I was able to knock some down tonight.” 

The Norse will hit the road as they take on the Toledo Rockets this Sunday with coverage starting at 2 p.m. on ESPN Plus.