Karmen Graham averages 15.4 points

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team will play host to Loyola (Ill.) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Regents Hall.

Loyola is a member of the NCAA Division I Horizon League. It will mark the first time that a Division I opponent has played in Regents Hall since Dec. 8, 1993, when the NKU women defeated Morehead State, 79-60.

NKU enters Thursday’s game with a 6-3 overall record. The Norse are 2-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

The NKU/Loyola game will be broadcast live on the Internet at www.nku.edu/~athletics.

HILLSDALE KNOCKS OFF NKU: Hillsdale (Mich.) combined tough defense and clutch shooting late in the second half to defeat NKU, 58-52, in the Sunday Challenger Classic on Tuesday night.

Hillsdale used its defensive pressure to force 22 turnovers. The Chargers held NKU to 38.3 percent shooting from the field and won despite being outrebounded by a 36-31 margin.

GRAHAM DOMINATES INSIDE: NKU junior post player Karmen Graham scored 48 points in the two games during the Sunday Challenger Classic to earn all-tournament honors. She netted a career-high 31 points against West Virginia Wesleyan in the Norse’s 68-48 win on Monday.

Graham added 17 points in the loss to Hillsdale and shot a total of 25 free throws in the two games.

Graham leads NKU in scoring at 15.4 points per game. She also averages a team-best 6.3 rebounds per game and leads the Norse in shooting from the field at 56.9 percent.

CREAGER, BRANNEN NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT: NKU’s Karyn Creager and Cassie Brannen were named to the Sunday Challenger Classic all-tournament team. Creager scored 10 points against Hillsdale, while Brannen grabbed seven rebounds in that game.

NKU AGAINST DIVISION I TEAM IN REGENTS HALL: Since the 1988-89 season, NKU
has played host to Division I opponents five times in Regents Hall and is 4-1 in those games.

In addition to its 79-60 loss to NKU in 1993, Morehead State also visited Highland Heights in both 1990 and 1992 and split those two contests with the Norse.

The NKU women played host to Louisville during the 1989-90 season and defeated the Cardinals, 71-60, in Regents Hall. The previous season, NKU handed Xavier a 64-43 loss in Regents Hall.

ABOUT LOYOLA: The Ramblers are 0-10 after suffering a 96-48 loss to DePaul on Tuesday night. Loyola is led by junior guard Marquise Hanser, a Notre Dame Academy graduate who averages 18 ppg. Hanser has also made 24 of 64 attempts from 3-point range.

NKU and Loyola have never met in women’s basketball.