Two free throws made by NKU’s Abbey Wolterman cut the lead down to 10 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. NKU was looking to make a push late, but Marshall kept putting their foot on the gas.
After a couple of trips down the floor, the Herd answered right back. Timaya Lewis-Eutsey caught the ball on the left corner of the free throw line. She sees Peyton Ilderton with her hands up at the top of the key. Lewis-Eutsey swung the ball over to a wide-open Peyton. She didn’t hesitate, shooting the ball, “Swish,” as the ball went through the net.
The three-pointer put Marshall up by 13, but they kept pushing, going on an 8-0 run, pushing the game away from the Norse
The Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team went on the road for its first game of the 2025-26 season. They lost 68-53, after beating Marshall last year on a game-winning three-pointer.
The Thundering Herd was led by Lewis-Eutsey, who put up 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. She had a huge third quarter, putting up 12 points, going 6-7 from the field, getting her way down around the basket.
The Norse struggled to shoot inside the three-point line, shooting just 32.3% (11-34) on two-point attempts. Turnovers were the main story of the game. NKU had 20 turnovers to Marshall’s 13. The Thundering Herd scored 23 points off those turnovers.
Taysha Rushton led Northern Kentucky with 11 points and three made three-pointers. She also had three assists and two rebounds.
In 18 minutes of play, Mia Jordan had ten points off the bench. She shot 5-9 from the field while grabbing two rebounds.
Maddie Moody was the third leading scorer for the Norse, seven points before the first media timeout. But after that, she struggled to score, not scoring the rest of the night. Moody led the Norse in minutes with 33.
The Norse struggled against Marshall’s full-court press. Head coach of the Norse, Jeff Hans, said the way they need to clean up the turnovers is by working on their execution.
“We had some careless possessions and didn’t do what we were supposed to against the press at times,” Hans said. “ We need to work on our execution to cut down on that number.”
Hans had good things to say about Jordan’s performance off the bench.
“I thought Mia settled into the game during the 2nd and 3rd quarters and played well. She found open space against their zone and did a good job of finishing,” He said.
NKU will stay on the road to face off against Louisville. They don’t have much turn around as they’ll be heading down Interstate 71 to face the Cardinals on Sunday. With the Norse not having much time to work on their mistakes they made in this game, Hans believes that even with this limited time, they have to work on defensive rebounding and matching Louisville’s physical play.
“Well, we don’t have too much time to fix our mistakes, but we need to work on defensive rebounding and matching Louisville’s Physicality,” Hans said.