NKU women’s basketball played their second game of a three-game homestand on a sunny Saturday afternoon against the Green Bay Phoenix.
As it warmed up outside, the fans rolled in wearing pink for the Coaches against Cancer game.
The excitement grew as fans wished Victor E. Viking a happy birthday and the buzzer went off. The fans in pink found their seats as the referee threw the ball up. The Phoenix’s Jasmine Kondrakiewicz tipped it back, finding the hands of Bailey Butler and the game was underway.
Green Bay got on the board first with a three from Callie Genke, but she wasn’t done yet. The Phoenix got a steal on the defensive end, as Natalie McNeal caught Genke in stride for a deep three in transition to jump out to a 6-0 lead.
After a scoreless two minutes of play, NKU got their first points on the board from the free-throw line. Kamora Morgan converted both her free throws as she started the 9-0 run to get the Norse back into the game.
Jaci Jones pushed the tempo as she hit a three and ran a play to set up Macey Blevins for the jumper. Halle Idowu ended the 9-0 run with a tough layup down low, grabbing the lead from Green Bay 9-6.
Green Bay responded right back, taking the lead with a layup. Once again Genke converted on another transition three, extending their lead to 11-9.
The Norse were the last to score in the quarter as Anna Hamilton got fouled, gaining a trip to the free-throw line where she converted both, tying up the game at 11 going into the second quarter.
The start of the second quarter was a defensive battle as both teams blocked shots, however, Green Bay got their scoring going with a tough layup by Kondrakiewicz.
The lead would balloon to six off a made three-point basket by Green Bay’s Cassie Schiltz. But the Norse kept climbing back, cutting the lead down to five with a great move down low from Idowu.
Green Bay went on a 4-0 run at the end of the quarter, leading the game 29-20.
After a halftime show featuring mascots playing their own game of basketball, the Norse came out hot, scoring a quick three points. Two of those points came from a Blevins layup, making the score 29-23.
Green Bay and NKU traded baskets, but the Phoenix still held onto their 11-point lead off a Schiltz three-pointer.
NKU showed some fight on a 6-0 run sparked by a Jones three-pointer. The next to score was Abby Wolterman who converted on a fastbreak layup. Idowu ended the run making one free throw, cutting the lead to 40-35.
The Norse kept fighting after a made three by Blevins got them within three. The lead jumped back to five as Kondrakiewicz ended the third quarter with a made layup.
The fourth quarter started and would be all Green Bay. Schiltz was the first to score and continued her hot shooting night, converting on a three. The Phoenix got it right back the next play, scoring on an easy layup down low as they captured their double-digit lead just a minute into the quarter.
It took about four minutes for the Norse to get on the board. Wolterman grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball back up, cutting the lead to 52-44.
A couple of trips later, NKU scored again as Idowu grabbed an offensive rebound and put up the shot over multiple defenders, cutting the lead to just 52-47.
Green Bay made NKU pay at the line as the Phoenix drew three fouls, converting all their free throws and pushing the game back to eight with a minute to go.
The Norse played the foul game but ultimately lost, as Green Bay went on to win 64-56.
After the game, Head Coach Jeff Hans talked about the positives he saw in the game.
“I think there’s a lot of positives in a lot of ways… we don’t play very well early on and shooting offensively, especially I thought were a little scared to take some open shots…those things lead to defense and put a lot of pressure on your defensive end and we go down to get stops, we continually get stops in the first half,” said Hans. “We just got to clean up some mistakes there, but I think we’ve proven this a lot throughout the year that we can play.”
The Norse’s season is still taking some aggressive turns, but the ship is docked at home for their last game of the three-game homestand. NKU will take on Detroit Mercy on Wednesday at 6 p.m. This game will be broadcast on ESPN+.