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LAKELAND, Fla. - Flu-like symptoms might have prevented Karmen Graham from being 100 percent Friday afternoon, but it didn’t stop the 6-foot-1 senior from making Mercyhurst (Pa.) feel sick during Northern Kentucky University's 76-50 victory at the Florida Southern Holiday Classic. Graham scored a team-leading 17 points in just 18 minutes of action as the Norse cruised past Mercyhurst. The Kettering, Ohio, native also added two assists as NKU finished the two-day tournament 2-0 and improved to 7-3 overall. "I felt a little bit better today than yesterday, but my goal is to come in and work hard every day and see what happens on game day," Graham said. "I've had some up-and-down games this season, but I'm just trying to get better each day." Mercyhurst (4-9) saw up close why Graham earned honorable mention All-America accolades last season. She finished 5-for-8 from the field and made all six of her free throws. "It was great to see Karmen Graham have a big game like this, and it's a good win against a team in our region," NKU head coach Nancy Winstel said. "I don't think we were quite as focused as we were against St. Rose (the previous game), but we hung in there." Down by 23 points early in the second half, Mercyhurst switched to an aggressive, 2-1-2 trapping press that gave NKU problems. The Lakers used a 12-0 run to slice a 46-23 NKU lead down to 46-35 with 13:33 remaining in the game. "They did a good job with their press, but we didn't execute the way we need to," Winstel said, noting her team's 23 turnovers. "We were not looking at the whole floor. When we started being aggressive and passing it around, we were getting two-on-ones and beating it. Things started to unravel a little bit, but Mercyhurst throws a lot of things at you, and it was good for us to see it." A conventional three-point play by Cassie Brannen, followed by a Brittany Winner basket and two free throws from Karyn Creager extended NKU's advantage to 53-35. The 17th-ranked Norse coasted from there, with the final margin being their largest lead. Creager, who finished with 10 points and four assists, extended her streak of consecutive made free throws to 26 by sinking her only two attempts Friday. Creager owns the school record of 27 straight made free throws, which she set two years ago. The senior guard from Leipsic, Ohio, is closing in on that record and will tie it by making her next attempt. "She's probably breaking my record," joked Winstel, a notoriously bad free-throw shooter who brick-layered her way to 39.8 percent accuracy (47-for-118) from the line during the 1974-75 season with the Norse. "It's an awesome feat, and Karyn takes a great deal of pride in her free-throw shooting. She's one of the best in our conference, and she's around 90 percent every year." Brittany Winner, Nicole Chiodi and Katie Butler each added 10 points for NKU, which shot 55.3 percent from the field. The Norse held Mercyhurst to 29.6 percent from the field and limited the Lakers to 1-for-12 shooting from 3-point range. Chiodi dished out a game-high six assists, and teammate Angela Healy added five assists and four points. The previous night against St. Rose, Healy poured in 24 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. NKU finished 3-1 against teams from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. That will be a positive when March rolls around and bids for the NCAA Division II Tournament are determined. NKU resumes Great Lakes Valley Conference play Jan. 4 at Wisconsin-Parkside, followed two days later by a showdown with GLVC East power Lewis. |
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