Brittany Winner

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team wraps up the regular season on the road this week, starting with a 6:30 p.m. Thursday game at Wisconsin-Parkside.

The Norse conclude the trip Saturday at 2 p.m. by facing Lewis at Romeoville, Ill. NKU is 22-3 overall, 15-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

NKU owns a one-game lead over Lewis for first place in the GLVC East Division. The Norse are also ranked 20th nationally in the latest Division II poll.

Both games can be heard live on WIOK (107.5 FM) and on the Internet at www.nku.edu/~athletics.

THE STREAK GROWS: NKU owns a 16-game winning streak going into Thursday night. The Norse have not lost since Dec. 20, when Hillsdale (Mich.) handed NKU a 58-52 setback in Regents Hall.

The 16-game winning streak is NKU’s longest since the 1999-2000 season, when the Norse ran off 24 consecutive victories en route to the NCAA Division II national championship.

IT’S THE NAME: Brittany Winner has made the big shot for NKU in several games this season, and the junior forward hit another key basket Saturday. Winner’s short jumper with 5.6 seconds remaining in the game gave NKU a 62-60 road victory over Kentucky Wesleyan.

On Jan. 28 against Bellarmine, Winner drained an 18-foot jumper with 13 seconds remaining in the game to give NKU a 66-64 victory. In that game, Winner scored six points in the final two minutes to rally the Norse. For the season, Winner averages 8.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. She also ranks second on the team with 54 assists.

Nicole Chiodi

CONTROL THE BOARDS: NKU sophomore guard Nicole Chiodi grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds in the win at Kentucky Wesleyan.

Chiodi averages 4.6 rebounds per contest and she leads the Norse in assists per game at 3.6 apg.

CREAGER IN THE CLUTCH: NKU junior guard Karyn Creager stepped to the free-throw line with less than a minute remaining and her team trailing by a point Saturday. Creager, the GLVC’s top shooter from the charity stripe at 89.7 percent, calmly made both free throws to give NKU a 60-59 lead.

Creager averages 9.5 ppg and leads NKU in 3-pointers made with 36.

GRAHAM-TASTIC SEASON: NKU junior post player Karmen Graham scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds to key the win at Kentucky Wesleyan. Graham ranks fourth in the GLVC in scoring at 14.0 ppg, and she is fifth in field-goal percentage at .542. In addition, Graham is 10th in free-throw percentage at .828 and has made more attempts than any other player in the top 15 of the GLVC.

FEELING REJECTED: NKU continues to lead the GLVC in scoring defense (54.3 ppg), field-goal percentage defense (.362) and blocked shots (4.72 bpg).

Sophomore center Angela Healy is third in the GLVC in blocks at 1.20 bpg, while freshman forward Cassie Brannen is fifth at 0.96 bpg. Healy averages 9.5 ppg and 5.8 rpg. Brannen, a candidate for GLVC Freshman of the Year, averages 6.3 ppg and 4.8 rpg.

EARLIER THIS SEASON AGAINST UWP: On Jan. 21, NKU withstood several rallies from Wisconsin-Parkside, and Angela Healy scored 21 points as the Norse posted a 68-62 victory over the Rangers in Regents Hall.

Karyn Creager added 11 points for NKU, which fought off a late Wisconsin-Parkside rally behind the clutch play of Healy. NKU jumped out to a 10-0 lead and appeared ready to make quick work of Wisconsin-Parkside. The Rangers, however, shot 52.4 percent from the field in the first half and trailed just 35-29 at the break.

Cassie Brannen

NKU built a 39-29 advantage early in the second half, but the Rangers used a 9-2 run to cut the Norse lead to 41-38 with 14:46 left. NKU answered with another spurt, which included four points from Katie Butler, to take a 50-41 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game.

But Wisconsin-Parkside would not go away, and guards Ashley Ferguson, Carrie Schieve and Mackenzie Heise keyed the rally. The Rangers tied the score twice in the second half but never gained the lead.

After Wisconsin-Parkside pulled within 62-59 with less than a minute left in the game, Healy powered in for a layup while being fouled. She converted the free throw to give NKU a 65-59 lead.

Healy also grabbed five rebounds and was 7-for-9 from the free-throw line. Butler finished with nine points for the Norse.

LAST SEASON IN KENOSHA: On Feb. 17, 2005, Sammy Kromm scored 22 points as Wisconsin-Parkside posted a 76-56 win over NKU at DeSimone Gymnasium.

Carrie Weir added 15 points and 12 rebounds. Mackenzie Heise finished with 14 points for Wisconsin-Parkside, which posted its largest margin of victory ever against NKU.

Wisconsin-Parkside built a 13-point lead early in the first half, but NKU rallied and pulled within 32-31. The Rangers, however, used a 11-0 run to end the half and held a 43-31 advantage at the break. Wisconsin-Parkside shot 70.8 percent from the field in the first half and held NKU to 37.5 percent from the floor. Kim Murphy came off the bench in the first half and scored all 12 of her points to spark the Rangers.

In the second half, NKU could not get within 11 points and the Rangers coasted to the win. Karyn Creager led NKU with 15 points. Creager’s school-record consecutive made free-throw streak ended at 27 when she missed the second of two free throws with 6:11 left in the game.

EARLIER THIS SEASON AGAINST LEWIS: On Jan. 19, Karmen Graham and Angela Healy each scored 12 points to lead NKU to a 62-51 win over Lewis in Regents Hall. The Norse limited Lewis to 36.7 percent shooting from the field and finished with a 37-30 edge in rebounding.

NKU built a 15-point lead in the first half behind the play of Graham, Cassie Brannen and Betsey Clark. Brannen came off the bench to score six points and haul in six rebounds before halftime. Clark added five points in a reserve role in the first half.

Graham hit a basket with 2:17 left before the half to give NKU a 37-22 lead. Lewis scored the final three points of the half to trail 37-25 at the break.

Lewis chipped away at the Norse lead in the second half and pulled within four points (53-49) with 1:52 left on a basket by Darcee Schmidt. NKU, however, sealed the victory by sinking nine of its final 10 attempts from the free-throw line.