 |
INDIANAPOLIS - Nancy Winstel entered the Northern Kentucky University locker room at halftime Thursday with her team trailing unbeaten Indianapolis by a point, and the Norse mentor was not pleased. Specifically, Winstel was not happy with junior guard Jessie Slack’s first-half play, which included an 0-for-6 performance from the field. “I was upset with Jessie at halftime, and she knew it,” Winstel said. “But give her credit, because she hung in there and was the difference in the second half. She was a different player, and that’s the real Jessie Slack we saw out there.” Slack poured in all 21 of her points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 8.9 seconds remaining that gave NKU a 62-60 win over Indianapolis in Nicoson Hall. The 5-foot-10 junior drained four 3-point shots in the second half, but none bigger than the trey she hit in the closing seconds. “That was a great shot by Jessie with a lot of pressure on her, and Danyelle Echoles made a nice pass to get it to her,” Winstel said. “This is a team win for sure, because we had a lot of players get hot at different times of the game. It’s a huge road win over an undefeated team that is playing very well.” Indianapolis called timeout with 5.1 seconds left after getting the ball across half court, but Karla Mast lost control of the ball and the Greyhounds were forced to throw up a desperation heave as the buzzer sounded. Mast led Indianapolis (11-1, 4-1 Great Lakes Valley Conference) with 26 points, but only six in the second half. Angela Healy added 10 points and 13 rebounds for NKU, which improved to 10-3 overall, 3-2 in the GLVC. Cassie Brannen finished with 10 points and four blocked shots for the Norse, who are ranked 15th nationally in the NCAA Division II poll. “Angela Healy, Nicole Chiodi and Cassie Brannen were all huge in this game, but we had a lot of people who contributed in this one,” Winstel said. Norse reserves Diondra Holliday and Rachel Lantry both connected on a pair of 3-pointers in the opening 8 1/2 minutes as NKU jumped out to a 16-10 lead. After Indianapolis’ Deanna Thomson hit a 3-pointer to make it 16-13, Holliday drained her third trey of the half to extend NKU’s advantage to 19-13.
Karen Brackman’s short jumper gave NKU a 25-15 lead, but the Norse missed their next eight shots from field and Indianapolis used a 13-2 spurt to end the first half for a 28-27 advantage at the break. “Diondra and Rachel made big shots for us in the first half, and we needed it or we could have been down by a lot more at halftime,” Winstel said. Indianapolis held a 51-47 lead with 6:16 left in the game, but a Slack 3-pointer, a basket by Brannen and two free throws by Slack gave NKU a 54-53 advantage. The Greyhounds battled back and took a 57-54 lead, but an inside basket by Brannen and another 3-pointer by Slack put the Norse ahead, 59-57, with 1:31 remaining. Jessica Canary buried a 3-pointer with 58 seconds left to give Indianapolis a 60-58 advantage, setting the stage for Slack’s heroics. Slack took a pass from Echoles on the right wing and drained a trey to give NKU the lead for good. “We made stops defensively in this game, and that’s another reason we were able to win,” Winstel said. “The players knocked down shots from the outside, and that was a key as well.” NKU finished 9-for-14 (.643) from 3-point range. The Norse entered Thursday shooting 27.7 percent from 3-point range this season. During the previous four games, NKU was a combined 13-for-61 (21.3 percent) in 3-point attempts. Holliday scored nine points for the Norse, while Chiodi dished out six assists. NKU shot just 37.9 percent from the field but limited Indianapolis to 39.7 percent. NKU concludes the road trip Saturday with a game at Saint Joseph’s at 2 p.m.
|
||||
