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By Tom Ramstetter, NKU Sports Information HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Angela Healy scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and the Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team rallied past bruising Southern Indiana, 59-54, in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game Thursday night at Regents Hall. NKU held the Screaming Eagles to just two field goals in the last eight minutes of the game to preserve the win. The 14th-ranked Norse improved to 12-3 on the season, 5-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Southern Indiana fell to 7-7, 2-4. Jessie Slack added 14 points, including a 3-pointer from the baseline with 10:20 remaining to put the Norse up 48-43. Healy’s two free throws a minute earlier gave the Norse the lead for good, 45-43, after Southern Indiana had led by as many as five in the second half. “I think that it was an ugly win,” NKU head coach Nancy Winstel said. “I really think that Southern Indiana played very well.” Cassie Brannen scored 11 points and helped hold Southern Indiana star center Jasmine Baines without a field goal over the last 12:45 of the game. Baines led the Screaming Eagles with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Southern Indiana used physical play and an 18-9 run to close the first half, erasing an early 16-9 Norse lead. Baines scored 16 points in the first half. “They really took it to us, especially the first half,” Winstel said. “I thought that we made some bad decisions offensively in our half-court passing and we threw the ball away a little too much. We just weren’t very patient in our offense. When we were, we were effective.” A stick-back by Baines at the 10:30 mark started a 12-4 run that gave the Screaming Eagles their first lead since a 7-4 lead inside the first three minutes. VaNita Smart hit a jumper with 4:21 left to give SIU a 21-20 lead. The teams traded the lead until Baines’ layup with 2:31 left gave SIU a 25-24 lead that would hold up for the rest of the half. “That’s their style,” Winstel said of the Screaming Eagles’ physical play. “They’re going to bump you, it’s going to be hard stuff, and you got to be tough enough to handle it. I was a little upset with us because I felt we were trying to make adjustments, and our team wasn’t making those adjustments. When we did, we were fine.” The Screaming Eagles led 27-25 at halftime after holding NKU to just 27.6 percent shooting from the field. “They have some strong girls,” said Healy, who upped her career point total to 983. “They kind of bumped us on our cuts more than we’re used to. We held our own.”
The adjustments took hold in the second half. Brannen and the front line clamped down on Baines and Slack scored 10 of her 14. “We raised the bar and we defended like we were capable of,” Winstel said. “Defense has to be something that is there every night. It wasn’t that we weren’t guarding anybody; it was that we weren’t guarding anybody hard. We did a better job on (Baines) in the second half. She’s a heck of a player. I felt like she had a whole bunch the beginning of the game. Cassie did a better job on her.” Baines was held to just two second-half field goals and a pair of free throws as the Norse defense, led by Brannen, keyed on her down low. “She’s the leading scorer and I wasn’t playing as well as I liked the first half,” Brannen said. “The second half, coach kind of got on me and I had to get on her. Plus, I had a lot of help from my team.” “We helped Cassie a little more,” Healy said. “When (Baines) got the ball, we kind of collapsed on her a little more.” Slack’s 3-pointer from the left wing gave NKU its first lead of the second half at the 13:30 mark. Southern Indiana tied the score three times before Healy’s free throws. Winstel preferred the second-half performance to the first half. “I thought in the second half we played much better defensively than the first half,” Winstel said. “This was a big win for us. It wasn’t pretty, but we could have just as easily lost this game. And I’ll take it. I’m not happy, but I’ll take it.” NKU used a 12-2 run midway through the first half to take a 16-9 lead with 12:22 left before halftime. But the Screaming Eagles’ physicality inside seemed to wear on the Norse to end the half. “It was a little brutal,” Brannen said. “I was on the floor quite a bit. We knew going into the game they were a physical team. They had some stronger and bigger post players than we’re used to playing against. It was a different experience.” NKU will host Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday at 1 p.m. in another GLVC game.
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