Karyn Creager scored 14 points Tuesday

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team will play at Southern Illinois at Edwardsville this Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

The Norse will also meet Quincy at 2 p.m. Saturday in a key Great Lakes Valley Conference game. Quincy leads the GLVC with a 9-2 record, while NKU is in second place with an 8-3 mark.

NKU (11-7 overall) extended its current win streak to seven Tuesday night with a 93-41 non-conference victory against Spalding. Angela Healy scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds for NKU.

Karmen Graham added 16 points and seven rebounds for NKU. The Norse held Spalding to 29.4 percent shooting from the field and outrebounded the Pelicans by a 49-27 margin.

Connie Myers finished with 15 points and seven rebounds for NKU, and teammate Karyn Creager added 14 points and seven rebounds. The Norse shot 51.6 percent from the field and forced 23 turnovers.

HUGE WIN AGAINST UW-PARKSIDE: NKU posted a big GLVC victory last Saturday, holding off Wisconsin-Parkside, 53-50, in Regents Hall. Wisconsin-Parkside held a 50-49 lead in the final 15 seconds when Karmen Graham received the ball in the lane, rose above two defenders and released a 10-foot jumper.

Graham’s shot found the bottom of the net to give NKU a 51-50 advantage with 10.9 seconds left. After a Wisconsin-Parkside timeout, Carrie Weir drove into the lane and attempted a short jumper that was contested closely by NKU’s Karyn Creager. Weir’s shot was off target and rebounded by Elizabeth Burrows, who was fouled with 3.4 seconds on the clock.

Burrows made both free throws to give NKU a 53-50 lead. Wisconsin-Parkside had a final chance to send the game into overtime, but Weir’s three-point attempt missed at the buzzer. Graham scored 20 points and was 8-for-11 from the field. She also grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots as the Norse took sole possession of second place in the GLVC.

DEFENSE KEYS THE STREAK: NKU has won 11 of its past 13 contests, and scoring defense has keyed the Norse’s current seven-game win streak.

During those seven victories, NKU has not allowed an opponent to reach 60 points. While starting the season 0-5, NKU allowed three opponents to score at least 70 points, and the Norse surrendered more than 60 points in each of those five losses. NKU is currently No. 2 in the GLVC in scoring defense at 58.7 ppg.

MYERS UP TO 16TH ON NKU POINTS LIST: NKU senior forward Connie Myers enters Thursday with 1,119 career points, which ranks 16th in Norse history. Myers averages 16.2 points per game.

NORSE REMAIN EIGHTH IN REGIONAL RATINGS: NKU remained eighth in this week’s NCAA Division II Great Lakes Region rankings. The top eight teams in those rankings will qualify for the NCAA Tournament in March.

Michigan Tech (15-3) is No. 1 in the Great Lakes Region, followed by No. 2 Lake Superior State (14-3). Grand Valley State (14-4) is third in the poll, Quincy (12-6) is fourth and Wisconsin-Parkside (14-8) rounds out the top five.

THE LAST TIME AGAINST SIUE: Earlier this season on Dec. 11 in Regents Hall, Connie Myers scored 23 points as NKU defeated SIUE, 62-45. SIUE led by as many as eight points in the first half, but the inside attack of Myers and Karmen Graham rallied NKU to a 31-29 advantage at the break. Myers scored 12 points in the first half.

The Norse held SIUE to just 23.8 percent shooting from the field in the second half and rolled to the victory. NKU’s defense limited SIUE to five field goals in the second half. In fact, the Cougars managed just one basket for more than seven minutes during one stretch after halftime.

THE LAST TIME AGAINST QUINCY: On March 12, 2004, Courtney VonderHaar and Jessica Stuckman combined for 31 points top-seeded Quincy rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half to defeat NKU, 51-49, in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament at the Pepsi Arena.

After Jessica Brock’s basket with 18 seconds remaining cut Quincy’s lead to 50-49, NKU immediately fouled Lindsay Anderson. She converted one of two free throws with 16 seconds left to extend Quincy's advantage to 51-49, and NKU had a final chance to tie or win the game. NKU’s Nikki Perkins attempted a three-pointer with two seconds left on the clock, but the shot was short and Quincy ended the Norse’s two-year reign as Great Lakes Region champion.