Highland Heights, Ky. – A late second-half rally for USC Upstate came up just short on Thursday evening as the Spartans dropped a 71-58 decision to the Northern Kentucky Norse in A-Sun action inside The Bank of Kentucky Center.

Upstate falls to 15-13 overall and 10-7 in the league, while the Norse improve to 16-12 on the season and 12-5 in conference play.

Brittany Clency recorded a team-high 14 points for the Spartans and Valese McAllister contributed 10 as she went 3-of-4 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 at the free-throw line. Brittany Starling came off the bench to pull down a game-high 11 rebounds.

Melody Doss scored 19 points for Northern Kentucky to lead all scorers. Kayla Thacker had 13 points, and Kaitlyn Gerrety and Rianna Gayheart posted 12 each. Thacker also pulled down 11 rebounds.

The Spartans struggled offensively in the first half as they shot 18.8% as a team and trailed 39-17 heading into halftime.

Upstate opened the game with a 6-3 lead through the first 3:03 as Raven Jefferson gave the Spartans the three-point lead with her jumper. Christine Roush followed the basket with a three-pointer to tie the game 6-6, and Thacker would give Northern Kentucky a lead it wouldn't give up as her free-throw put the Norse in front 7-6.

McAllister cut the Upstate deficit down to 10-8 with two free-throws at the 12:38 mark, but Gayheart answered with a three to give Northern Kentucky a 13-8 advantage heading into the half's second media timeout. Following the media timeout, the Norse would outscore the Spartans 26-10 for the remainder of the half including a 14-3 run over a 3:49 span.

Gerrety started the second half with a layup to give Northern Kentucky its largest lead of the game at 41-17 with 19:45 remaining. Clency connected on back-to-back three's to cut Upstate's deficit to 43-23, and the Spartans would later trim the NKU lead down to 17 with 16:48 to go on Lauren Bogle's free-throw. Northern Kentucky pushed its lead back to 23, 49-26, over a minute later.

The Norse maintained their 20-point advantage for a majority of the second half as they led by as many as 23, 56-33, on a layup by Doss with 12:32 left. Upstate was able to get to within 17 twice as Starling hit two free-throws to put the Spartans down 60-43 at the 8:36 mark. Gerrety recorded NKU's last field goal at the 5:45 mark to put the Norse in front 66-46.

Upstate completed the final 3:10 on a 10-2 run as it limited Northern Kentucky to just four free-throws. Travonda Haddock and Alex Stanford combined for nine of the 10 points during the run as the Spartans cut the lead down to 12, 69-57, with 1:10 to go. The Spartans would go on to outscore the Norse 41-32 in the second half.

Upstate finished the game shooting 28.8% (19-of-66) as a team while the Norse had 40.7% (24-of-59) shooting percentage.

The Spartans held the advantage in second chance points (21-5), fast break points (4-0) and bench points (21-18). Upstate also outrebounded NKU 50-44.

The Spartans wrap up their regular season Saturday afternoon when they travel to Nashville, Tenn. to face Lipscomb at 2 p.m.

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