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By Tom Ramstetter, NKU Sports Information HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Cassie Brannen scored 20 points and Angela Healy recorded a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds as the Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team beat Lewis, 73-42, Thursday night in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game inside Regents Hall. NKU closed the game on a 21-1 run over the final 7:42 and improved to 14-5 overall, 7-4 in the GLVC. Danyelle Echoles started that run with back-to-back 3-pointers at the 13:05 and 12:05 marks. “I thought in the second half that we took better care of the ball and I thought we made some big shots,” head coach Nancy Winstel said. “We made some threes, which opened up our inside game. We moved the ball and I thought we got to the free-throw line. We just did a lot of things that contributed to our success particularly in the second half. “In the GLVC, there are no easy games and it is always a war. I just thought that we wanted to battle. The first five minutes of the second half last Saturday was when we really let that Missouri S&T game get away from us. So tonight, we wanted to come out in the second half and be strong. I thought we did that and it kind of helped us set the tone. When you make shots, the game is a lot easier than when you miss them.” NKU, in fact, outscored the Flyers 33-7 over the final 13:16 of the game. “We made shots,” Winstel said. “I will tell you all year long, people are sagging in and they’re daring our outside shooters to shoot the ball, but tonight we made shots. Danyelle Echoles hit three big 3-pointers, and those were huge. Danyelle is as good of a shooter as anybody, but when you’re not making shots, it wears on you. "When you do make those shots, you start to believe. Hopefully. by Danyelle making those shots, Jessie Slack making some, and Karen Brackman making some as well, will give us some confidence.” Brannen, a Mount Notre Dame High School graduate, now has 719 career points.The junior forward was 7-for-8 from the field and 6-for-7 from the line. Brannen's three blocked shots gave her 127 on her career, just five shy of the NKU record. “On defense, I love to block shots,” Brannen said. “I’m a little better with the timing and my long arms, so I’m able to do it a little better than some other people. I honestly didn’t realize that I was close to (the record).”
The Norse regularly rotated inside players Healy, Brannen, and Kendra Caldwell to keep the key everyone fresh in the face of Lewis’ full-court press. “We have Cassie and we have Angela and I thought that if you’re going to stop one, then it’s hard to stop the other,” Winstel said. “I thought in the first half they were really, really working hard on trying to stop Angela so Cassie just stepped up big time. Kendra was able to play some minutes giving me a chance to rest those two. Kendra is a very important key to what we do. With her energy and being a freshman, she’s going to make mistakes but then again she’s also going to make some things happen as well.” The win snapped a two-game losing streak that knocked the Norse out of the Top 25 after they had held the No. 14 spot in the poll. NKU fell to Missouri-St. Louis and Missouri S&T last week on the road. “We love playing at home in Regents Hall, but home-court is only an advantage if you make it one,” Winstel said. “I thought tonight we were able to do that. I’m hoping that we can build on it. This was a huge win for us tonight. This was as big of a win for us that I can remember for a while just because what we went through last week.” NKU led 29-26 at halftime, led by Brannen’s 14 first-half points. Nicole Chiodi added six before halftime and finished with 13. Healy scored 11 of her 13 in the second half. Echoles scored all nine of her points in the second half, all coming on 3-pointers. Jessie Slack scored 14 for the Norse. NKU led by as many as nine in the first half, using a 10-0 run spanning six minutes. Lewis closed to within one, 27-26, with a 10-2 run near the end of the half. The two teams combined for 20 first-half turnovers. Lewis had 12 of those turnovers and finished with 22. The Norse had 14 turnovers in the game. NKU shot 55.1 percent from the field - 66.7 percent in the second half. The Flyers made only 30.6 percent of their shots from the field, including only 15.4 percent in the second half (4-for-26). NKU were 6-for-10 from 3-point range, including 5-for-6 in the second half. “We just came off two losses, two huge losses, and we haven’t been playing the game that we are capable of playing,” Brannen said. “Today, I think we knew we had to come out and do that and I think we were able to do just that.” Lauren Martens led the Flyers with 15 points, 11 in the first half. Lewis (9-8, 5-5) lost its last 11 games inside Regents Hall, which will host its final regular-season contest Feb. 16 against Indianapolis. NKU will host Wisconsin-Parkside Saturday at 1 p.m.
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