University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
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Northern Kentucky
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Spartans' Streak Halted with 81-61 Setback to Norse
2/2/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katie Parker, kparker@uscupstate.edu
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate women's basketball team's (8-13, 4-6 A-Sun) three-game winning streak came to an end Saturday as Northern Kentucky (8-11, 5-5 A-Sun) claimed an 81-61 victory inside the Hodge Center.
Northern Kentucky led wire-to-wire, jumping out to an early 16-3 lead. The Spartans regrouped and put some points on the board, putting the score at 20-10 with 12:52 to play in the first half. The two teams exchanged points for a few minutes and Upstate continued to trail by 10 with 9:15 on the clock. A Brittany Starling (Sumter, S.C.) layup from sophomore Shelby Hicks (Greeneville, Tenn.) sparked a 9-2 run as the Spartans pulled within three at 29-26 with just over six minutes until halftime.
With the Spartans threatening to tie things up, the Norse then rattled off a 12-2 run of their own to take a 43-28 lead with 47 seconds left in the opening frame. Starling scored four more points for the Spartans to close out the half, including a layup at the buzzer assisted by freshman Tweety Hawkins (Madison, Ga.) to cut the deficit to single digits. NKU took a 43-32 lead into the locker room at the break.
The three-point deficit in the opening half would prove to be the closest the Spartans would get as the Norse earned the eventual 81-61 victory, sweeping the season series. Upstate dropped a 70-62 loss at NKU Jan. 5, opening a five-game skid for the Spartans.
The Spartans were led on the day by Starling with 15 points, marking her third-straight double figure scoring effort. The freshman center also pulled down a team-best six rebounds and recorded two blocked shots on the day. Hawkins tallied 14 points, while senior Tee'Ara Copney (Asheville, N.C.) rounded out the double digits for Upstate with 12 points. Copney snagged four boards and handed out three assists, while Hawkins had three rebounds.
Upstate freshman Brittany Clency (Greensboro, N.C.) helped the Spartan offense, posting nine points to go along with four rebounds and one steal. Her classmate, Travonda Haddock (Pollocksville, N.C.), grabbed five boards and dished out two assists for the Spartans off of the bench. Hicks gave out a career-high three assists and tallied two points, while collecting two rebounds, swatting one blocked shot and swiping one steal.
The Norse were also led by a trio of players scoring double figures as Ellen Holton led the way with a game-high 26 points. Jaimie Hamlet and Rianna Gayheart tallied 18 and 16 points, respectively for NKU. Hamlet guided the Norse offense, handing out a game-best eight assists. Tiara Hopper paced Northern Kentucky on the boards, grabbing six rebounds to go along with six points. Holton and Gayheart each collected four rebounds for the Norse.
The Spartans recorded a 39.2 field goal percentage, while NKU shot 45.8 percent from the floor. However, Upstate was 42.9 percent from long range, compared to Northern Kentucky's 32.0 percent from behind the arc. The battle of the boards proved to be a draw as each team grabbed 34 rebounds.
Turnovers ended up being the difference in the contest as Upstate committed 20, while NKU only turned the ball over 10 times. The Norse capitalized on the Spartan miscues, scoring 23 points off of turnovers, while Upstate scored 10 points off of NKU turnovers. Northern Kentucky also outscored Upstate in the paint 36-22.
The Spartans return action Monday, Feb. 4, hosting Lipscomb for a 7 p.m. contest, airing live on ESPN3. Follow Upstate women's basketball this season on your mobile device, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
