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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - At times Saturday afternoon, Amber Shelton seemed unstoppable on the Regents Hall court. In the end, as the final seconds were winding down with her Southern Illinois at Edwardsville team trailing by a point, the junior forward was just that. Shelton, a 5-foot-11 transfer from Illinois State, hit a short jumper with 3.8 seconds remaining to give SIUE a 65-64 upset over No. 10 Northern Kentucky University. The Cougars rallied from a 62-57 deficit in the final 2:34 of the game to remain unbeaten (5-0) and defeat NKU in Regents Hall for the first time since 1998. “We’ve never played against her before because she’s a transfer. She’s an amazing player,” said Brittany Winner, who scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds for NKU. “We tried everybody on her. We’d keep her in front and she’d just turn around and make that jump shot. You couldn’t stop her today. She just had one of those games.” Shelton - who averaged 12 points per game at Illinois State - finished with a game-high 24 points, including 17 in the second half. She did the bulk of her offensive damage off the dribble, either hitting short jumpers or driving to the basket. “We knew late in the game that they were going to get the ball to (Shelton) or (Elyse Morris). I knew she was going to take that shot,” NKU head coach Nancy Winstel said. “Brittany Winner made a great play to at least make them take it out of bounds right before that. We just couldn’t get another stop. At the end, we just couldn’t stop them. “They were shooting foul shots. Putting them at the free-throw line is not a stop, and I think they made all of them late in the game. When we had our lead, all we had to do was execute and do what we had to do down the stretch. We didn’t do it, and that really hurts.” NKU overcame a slow start and built a 50-44 lead with 11:44 left on Nicole Chiodi’s conventional three-point play. Shelton responded with six straight points to tie the game at 50-all with 8:29 remaining, and Morris gave the Cougars a 52-50 lead with a layup a minute later.
NKU countered with a 10-2 run to take a 60-54 advantage with 4:30 remaining. Angela Healy capped the spurt with a basket off an assist from Betsey Clark. Healy finished with 21 points and nine rebounds. “I thought she played great,” Winstel said. “I thought when we were patient and we got the ball inside, they couldn’t stop her. There were times that if we had done that more, she probably would have had 30. That’s just discipline and understanding what we’re trying to do, but, also, the kids are trying to be aggressive.” Healy’s basket with 1:29 left gave NKU a 64-61 lead, and that turned out to be the Norse’s final score. Shelton drew a foul with 1:08 left and hit a pair of free throws to bring SIUE within a point at 64-63. She then stole a pass by Chiodi and appeared on her way to a layup, but Winner hustled back and prevented Shelton from scoring by knocking the ball out of her hands. After a timeout, SIUE ran the clock down and put the ball into Shelton’s hands. She maneuvered into the lane and hit a short jumper to give the Cougars the lead. A desperation attempt by NKU fell short, and SIUE improved to 2-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference with its second consecutive road upset. “I think Edwardsville is a very good team. They’ve brought in some recruits that have helped them including three Division I transfers,” Winstel said. “Their ability to put the ball on the floor and create is just great. We had a chance to win the game, and give Edwardsville credit for hitting big shots.” SIUE shot 50 percent from the field and was 9-for-10 from the free-throw line. NKU (3-1 overall, 1-1 GLVC) made 39.7 percent of its shots from the field and won the rebounding battle by a 35-29 margin. Chiodi tossed in 10 points and had three assists for NKU. Katie Butler added seven points off the bench for the Norse, who shot 87.5 percent from the charity stripe. “SIUE had all the energy in the world, and we didn’t match that at the beginning,” Winner said. “We picked it up, battled back and were close to them at halftime. Then the whole second half was just a battle. “We’d go on a run and they’d come back. The ending just didn’t turn out the way we wanted it.” NKU will return to action Wednesday at 7 p.m. against NAIA power Georgetown (Ky.) in Regents Hall. The Norse then travel to Louisville, Ky., next Saturday to meet Bellarmine in a GLVC showdown. |
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