Box Score

The UW-Parkside women's basketball team earned one of its biggest road wins in recent memory going to Northern Kentucky and coming away with a 66-60 victory over of the Norse on Thursday night. It was the program's first victory at NKU since January of 2004 as the two teams came into the game in a tie for second place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Eastern Division.
 
The match-up was a battle of the league's top two defensive teams with NKU allowing just 48.9 points per contest with the Rangers right behind at 52.9. But on Thursday it was the Ranger offense that claimed top billing scoring 66 points. It was the highest total the Norse have allowed since February of last year and the most they've given up at the Bank of Kentucky Center since 2010.
 
“To be able to get any win on the road in the GLVC is big,” said Ranger head coach Jenny Knight-Kenesie. “Not to mention it's been a long time since we've won at NKU. We didn't talk much about it but our seniors obviously knew they hadn't won here.”
 
“We had a great shoot around this morning and I thought we were really focused all game. We put a complete game together and you have to have that if you want to win at a place like this.”
 
The 21^st-ranked Rangers opened up a 19-point lead in the second half before holding off a late charge by the home team. Jadee Rooney finished the night with a game-high 20 points. Amy Selk had her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
 
“I'm so proud of her,” said Kenesie of her senior sharp shooter. “She was so aggressive off the dribble and that was the game plan tonight. She's used to shooting a lot of jumpers but she committed to getting to the basket. She never shied away from contact and stayed aggressive all night.”
 
Parkside improved to 13-3 on the year and 6-2 in the GLVC. Northern Kentucky is now 12-4 overall and 5-3 in the league. The two teams will meet again on February 4th in Somers, Wis. Thanks to Saint Joseph's loss at Kentucky Wesleyan the Rangers hold second place alone heading into the weekend.
 
After NKU scored the game's first basket the Rangers rattled off nine straight points to take the early lead. Four different players scored in the run to get Parkside off to a balanced start. A lay-up by Amy Selk made it 13-5 with
 
The Norse responded by taking the lead back at 16-15 but that would be their final advantage despite a furious rally in the final minutes.
 
Parkside outscored NKU 19-7 over the final 7:52 of the half thanks in large part to the play of Jenna Endisch. The junior from Muskego came off the bench to knock down three straight three-pointers during the run to open up a double digit lead.
 
“Our bench and role players are so important to our success,” said Kenesie. “They are really starting to buy in to what we've asked of them and understanding how important they are.  They have the ability to take some pressure off our starters and tonight they did that.”
 
Selk pulled down a big offensive rebound in the waning seconds of the half and tossed it out to Rooney. Her 15-footer at the buzzer found the net to give UWP at 34-23 lead at the break.
 
The teams went back and forth early in the second half as the margin remained the same with 12:38 to go. Parkside looked to have things in control as they followed with an 8-0 run to open up a 19-point lead with 9:21 left. Kaitlyn Bettiga found Brittany Beyer on a pretty pass in the pain to make the score 53-34.
 
NKU used a 17-6 push to cut it down to six with just over three minutes left. The lead was down to three with 1:18 to go on a lay-up by Casse Mogan.
 
But the Rangers were not to be denied as Beyer knocked down a pair of free throws and Selk pulled in a big defensive rebound to on the ensuing possession to all but clinch the victory.
 
“It's was great to see Amy come out and play with the confidence she did,” said Kenesie. “She had been in a little rut and to get a game like this for her against a really good team was huge. She gave us a great effort tonight. Hopefully this gives her a boost as we go forward the rest of the season.”
 
UW-Parkside had the advantage in the paint outscoring the bigger Norse, 32-18. They shot 47.4% from the floor while limiting NKU to just 35.6%.
 
The Rangers work is not done on this trip as they head to Bellarmine on Saturday for a big game against the Knights. Tip-off is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.