Jan. 18, 2000
NORSE HIT ROAD FOR IPFW ON THURSDAY
NKU (10-2) plays improved IPFW (7-6)
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team improved to 10-2 this past Saturday with an 89-68 win against the University of Missouri-St. Louis in Regents Hall. NKU is now 5-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
NKU will travel to play at Indiana-Purdue University at Fort Wayne at 5:30 p.m. this Thursday. The Norse will also play at Saint Joseph’s College at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night.
Five NKU players scored in double figures on Saturday, and the Norse shot 54.5 percent from the field. NKU also held UMSL to just 38.5 percent shooting from the field during the second half, and 42.2 percent for the game.
Junior guard Michele Tuchfarber led NKU with 21 points on Saturday, and she also had five assists, four rebounds and four steals. Tuchfarber made all eight of her attempts from the free throw line in that game, and she was 6 of 8 from the field.
For the season, Tuchfarber averages 14.5 points per game and 4.8 rebounds. She is also shooting 52 percent from the field and 43.3 percent from three-point range. Tuchfarber has scored 950 career points and is looking to become just the 17th player in NKU women’s basketball history to reach 1,000 career points.
Sophomore forward Michelle Cottrell recorded her fourth double-double of the season on Saturday by scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Cottrell now has 18 double-doubles in her career at NKU.
Cottrell leads NKU in scoring (17.4 ppg) and rebounding (8.9 rpg). She has also made 54.7 percent of her shots from the field and 74 percent of her free throws. Cottrell enters Thursday’s game at IPFW with 807 career points.
Junior guard Heather Livingstone averages 13.8 ppg and leads the GLVC in three-point shooting at 56.4 percent. She also leads NKU in both assists (41) and steals (28). Livingstone also has made a team-leading 31 three-pointers, and she averages 3.2 rebounds per game.
Junior forward/center Julie Cowens scored 12 points on Saturday, and she averages 8.7 ppg. Cowens is No. 2 in the GLVC in field goal percentage (.556) and she averages 3.2 rebounds per game.
FLANAGAN PERFECT AGAINST UMSL: NKU freshman guard/forward Bridget Flanagan made all four of her field goal attempts - including a trio of three-pointers - against UMSL on Saturday and scored 11 points. Flanagan has now made 16 of 29 (.552) three-point attempts this season, and she averages 5.8 ppg.
VERSATILE FRESHMAN: NKU freshman forward Amy Mobley has made a major impact in her first season with the Norse, both defensively and offensively. Mobley is the team’s top shot-blocker with 22 rejections in 12 games, and she ranks No. 3 in the GLVC in that category (1.83 bpg).
Mobley is also No. 2 on the team in rebounding at 6.5 rebounds per game (15th in the GLVC), and she averages 5.3 ppg. Mobley also has 23 assists, which ranks No. 5 on the team.
ABOUT IPFW: The Mastodons own a 7-6 overall record, including a 3-4 mark in the GLVC. IPFW, which defeated Kentucky Wesleyan, 76-55, last Saturday in Owensboro, Ky., leads the GLVC in three-pointers made per game at 10.4 per game.
Junior forward Jamie Holderman leads IPFW in scoring at 18.3 ppg. Holderman has made 40 of 95 (.421) three-point attempts, and she also averages 6.3 rebounds per game.
Sophomore guard Kara Moore is scoring 14.2 ppg, and she has connected on 38 of 99 three-point attempts. Freshman guard Trish Fleming averages 13.2 ppg, and she has made 24 of 73 three-point attempts. Fleming also leads the team in rebounding at 6.9 rpg.
THE LAST TIME AGAINST IPFW: On Feb. 11, 1999, Michelle Cottrell scored 24 points, and Michele Tuchfarber added 19 as NKU defeated IPFW, 99-55, in Regents Hall. The Norse also won the first meeting of last season at Fort Wayne, Ind., 77-66, as Tuchfarber scored 18 points, and Cottrell added 17 points and eight rebounds.
IPFW has not beaten NKU since the 1996-97 season, when the Mastodons posted an 83-74 victory against the Norse at Fort Wayne, Ind. Since that loss, NKU has defeated IPFW five consecutive times.