NKU’s Cassie Brannen

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The winning streak is now at 11 for the Northern Kentucky University’s women’s basketball team.

Four NKU players scored in double figures Thursday night as the Norse won their 11th straight game with a 72-55 victory over Southern Illinois at Edwardsville. Karyn Creager scored 14 points for NKU, which improved to 17-3 overall, 10-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Nicole Chiodi added 13 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Norse, who shot 60.9 percent from the field in the second half. Angela Healy finished with 12 points and seven rebounds as NKU coasted to the road victory.

“I thought we did a good job of taking care of business in this game, and our players battled the entire way,” NKU head coach Nancy Winstel said. “We moved the ball very well in the second half and did a good job finding the people who were open.

“Karyn Creager shot the ball well from the outside, and I thought this was Nicole Chiodi’s best offensive game as a college player.”

Cassie Brannen scored 10 points and hauled down six rebounds for NKU, which finished with a 40-23 rebounding advantage. Karmen Graham and Brittany Winner each scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds.

“We limited SIUE to just one shot on the defensive end for the most part, and I thought we did a very good job of keeping them off the boards,” Winstel said. “I told our players we needed to keep SIUE from getting offensive rebounds, and we did that.”

Creager drained four 3-pointers for NKU, which was 7-for-17 from long range as a team. The Norse took a 35-24 halftime lead as Creager scored eight points. Graham and Chiodi each added seven points in the first half, while Brannen scored six.

Karen Brackman added six points off the bench for the Norse, whose 11-game winning streak is their longest since the 1999-2000 campaign. NKU ran off 24 consecutive victories en route to the NCAA Division II national championship to end that season.

Julianne McMillen led SIUE (10-10, 4-8 GLVC) with 15 points. The Cougars shot just 37.7 percent from the field.

NKU will play at Quincy at 2 p.m. Saturday.

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