APSU Sports Information
Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) women’s basketball team used suffocating defense to get back in the win column, 52-48 over Northern Kentucky, Monday night, at the Winfield Dunn Center.
The Governors (3-3) improved to .500 with an impressive defensive display, holding the Norse (1-4) to just six points in both the third and fourth quarters.
The Govs forced 25 turnovers and recorded 14 steals, holding the Norse to just 17 attempts from the field in the second half.
The first quarter was a little sluggish for the Govs, as coach David Midlick had to look to his bench early and often due to foul trouble. Arielle Gonzalez-Varner, who had an historic game last week, picked up two fouls early on.
Myah LeFlore provided the much-needed spark for the Govs, hitting four free throws and a triple and finished with seven points in the quarter. The NKU offense was solely led by Taylor Clos in the first quarter, who had 13 of the 18 Norse points after the first frame, including three-for-three from beyond the arc.
The Govs and the Norse were tied at 18 after the first period, but NKU opened up a 7-0 run to start the second quarter. Nieja Crawford finally ended the run with a nice pull-up jumper from the elbow. Keisha Gregory hit a big three-pointer to pull within one point, but the Norse went on a 6-0 run to end the half and led by seven.
However, the Govs did do a better job on Clos, not allowing her to score in the second quarter.
The Govs set the tone coming out of halftime, routinely forcing the Norse to throw dangerous passes or succumb to a shot clock violation. The Govs did not allow a point for the first six minutes and 20 seconds of the third quarter.
However, the Govs could not exactly capitalize and NKU retook the lead. The Ferby twinned answered though. First, Brianah Ferby hit a triple to cut the lead back to three before her sister tied the game up on the ensuing Govs possession. While the Govs were only tied after the quarter, they forced ten turnovers in the period alone.
The fourth quarter started out promising for the Govs, with Brandi driving into the lane and hitting a floater to give the Govs their first lead of the second half. The Norse did a great job of taking away the three-point shot, but the Govs stepped up at the free-throw line. Inconsistent to start the season, the Govs shot an impressive 18-for-21 from the charity stripe, including Gregory’s 8-for-10 effort.
The Govs stretched their lead to five, but Clos hit a monster three to cut the lead to two. However, Gregory answered back, with a tough turnaround jumper to put the Govs back up two possessions with just a minute to go. Gonzalez-Varner hit two clutch free throws to ice the game for the Govs as they improved to a 3-3 record.
The Govs return to action with the final game of their home stretch against Lipscomb, 7:00pm, Thursday, November 29th.
APSU Notably
Keisha Gregory led the Govs in points (15), rebounds (7), and steals (3).
The Govs won for the first time this season after trailing after any quarter.
The Govs forced 25 turnovers, the most this season by an opponent.
The Govs shot a season-low 12 three-point attempts.
Maggie Knowles set a career-high in rebounds with seven.
Despite the Norse shooting better, the Govs won, the second occurrence of that this season.
APSU Head Coach David Midlick’s Musings
“It came down to defense. Our scoring was not any better in the second half than it was in the first, but we caused some turnovers, forced some early and tough shots, and just made it more difficult for them to run their offense as they did in the first half. Give credit to our ladies, they had a lot of effort tonight.”
