The Northerner Print Edition - February 10, 2010

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description

Play Ball!: Baseball team swings into action. Faculty struggles over gen-eds: New proposals being forced to comply with SACS. Driving in the snow: NKU needs to cancel class earlier. An enchanted world: NKU serves up interesting art. Finishing strong: Men's and Women's basketball teams look strong heading into GLVC tourney.

Transcript of The Northerner Print Edition - February 10, 2010

Page 1: The Northerner Print Edition - February 10, 2010
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NEWS

VIEWSDriving in the snow:NKU needs to cancel class earlier.

A&EAn enchanted world:NKU serves up interesting art.

COVER STORYPlay Ball!:Baseball team swings into action.

6 & 7

4

5

8 & 9

Faculty struggles over gen-eds:New proposals being forced to comply with SACS.

3February 10, 2010

The NorthernerUniversity Center Room 335Highland Heights, KY 41076Editor in Chief: (859) 572-6128News & Sports: (859) 572-6677Features: (859) 572-5859Advertising: (859) 572-5232Fax: (859) 572-5772

E-mail: [email protected]

furtherdetailsEntire content is copyright of The Northerner and may not be reprinted without prior con-sent. Views expressed do not represent those of the administration, faculty or student body.The Northerner is considered a designated public forum. Student editors have authority to make all content decisions without censor-ship or advance approval. The Northerner staff respects the right to a free and open dialogue as allowed under the First Amendment.

PRINT EDITOR-IN-CHIEFMark Payne[[email protected]]

WEB EDITOR-IN-CHIEFEmily Teaford [[email protected]]

PRESENTATION EDITORKarli Wood[[email protected]]

A&E EDITORJeremy Jackson[[email protected]]

PHOTO EDITORCharlotte Etherton[[email protected]]

COPY EDITORSEmily Christman[[email protected]]

Zach Grady[[email protected]]

Chad Hensley[[email protected]]

ADVISERGayle Brown[[email protected]]

AD MANAGERWilliam Fisher[fi [email protected]]

northernerstaff contactinformationEDITORIAL CARTOONISTPatrick Delaney[[email protected]]

ASST. PHOTO EDITORCassie Graves[[email protected]]

STAFF WRITERSMichael Willis[[email protected]]

Alex Owsley[[email protected]]

Brandon Barb[[email protected]]

Jesse Call[[email protected]]

Vern Hockney[[email protected]]

WHAT’S INSIDE

SPORTS 10 & 11Finishing strong:Men’s and Women’s basketball teams look strong heading into GLVC tourney.

COPY DESK CHIEFBetina Kemker[[email protected]]

SPORTS EDITORDrew Laskey[[email protected]]

EDITORIAL ADVISERRyan Clark[[email protected]]

Betina Kemker/Copy EditorStudents embrace the snow day. For some students, this was their fi rst experience of a heavy snow.

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NEWS

4 Edition 45, Issue 5

Vern HockneyStaff writer

Faculty struggles with Gen-edsNew proposals being forced to comply with SACS

Selected police reports from NKU

Monday, Feb. 1

9:05 a.m. NKU parking decal was stolen from a parked vehicle that was

unlocked in Lot A.

8:39 a.m. Threatening telephone messages

were left on an answer-ing machine concerning

a former employee in the Maintenance building.

12:11 p.m. Female student fainted in Steely Library; transported to hospital by

ambulance.

5:55 p.m. Criminal posses-sion of a forged instrument

(decal) in Lot F.

Tuesday, Feb. 2

No reportable activity.

Wednesday, Feb. 3

2:19 p.m. Two vehicle acci-dent in Lot I; no injuries;

driver operating vehicle on suspended license.

Thursday, Feb. 4

9:46 a.m. Report of a stu-dent with low blood pres-sure; transported to hos-pital by ambulance in the

University Center.

12:52 p.m. Report of either theft of stamps and/

or cash from the post office at the Campus Post Office.

The general education re-quirements at Northern Ken-tucky University are under a swift change as the univer-sity prepares to reduce the amount of General Educa-tion requirements. Students currently average 47 to 52, but that number will be re-duced to around 37.

This led to heated conver-sation between Provost Gail Wells and several faculty members at the Jan. 25 Fac-ulty Senate meeting. Wells declined comment to The Northerner

Although the university looks at geneds every so of-ten, faculty feel this time around the university is rushing the process, so they can appease the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Dr. Paul Tenkotte, current chair of the History depart-ment, says “Change is always difficult for people.” He says that GenEds (general educa-tion requirements) are typi-cally thought of as the “Third Rail of a university.” In other words, people are afraid to touch the third rail because they are afraid they will die, much like in a subway sys-tem.

Faculty primarily fit into two camps concerning changes to the GenEds: For and against. Some depart-ments feel that their cre-ativity and ability to teach students properly is being squelched because of the rush for implementation in fall 2010. However, in the against camp, it is interesting to note that the faculty is not

necessarily against the entire process, some merely oppose the rushing of the process and the lack of faculty in-volvement.

Jeffery Williams, former chair of the History and Ge-ography department, and current faculty member, said he hasn’t seen the faculty of Arts and Sciences so “demor-alized,” since the 1970s when the faculty were at odds with the university administration over numerous issues. He said the core of a college ed-ucation is the geneds, which makes universities stand out from trade schools and pre-pares students for a lifetime of learning.

“Reviewing our Gen Ed curriculum from time to time to insure it is doing the best job it can for students

is a necessary and valuable process,” Williams said in an e-mail to The Northerner. “And the current review pro-cess began a year-and-a-half ago as a thoughtful self-anal-ysis in which a large number of faculty and students were engaged. But in the last six months, the administration has accelerated the process by promising our accrediting agency (SACS) that Gen Ed reform would be up and run-ning by this coming fall.”

But why have GenEds, classes that are supposed to produce a well rounded stu-dent, caused such a split in the faculty.

“Most of the faculty I know in A&S feel that the faculty have lost control of the process and that the haste with which decisions

have been made and are be-ing made about the Gen Ed curriculum is depriving us of the time necessary to arrive at well-conceived and cre-ative curriculum changes,” Williams said.

Tenkotte offers a differ-ent perspective completely. He says that NKU is chang-ing to meet students in a modern world—that we are moving from a distributive model to a core competen-cies model that emphasizes analysis, critical thinking and active learning, which can be taught by many different dis-ciplines.

Tenkotte does admit, though, that “it is a very short amount of time” for the next step to be completed, which is to train the faculty to teach the new GenEd system.

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Carolyn CoveyFreshman, Psychology

"It’s a possibility. I played softball when I

was younger."

Jordan WoodruffSophomore, Undeclared

"Probably not. I tried out and didn’t make it. That

was frustrating."

Jessica LeachFreshman, Nursing

"I enjoy sports so I might go maybe with a group

of friends."

rnpCompiled by

Cassie Graves

Do you attend games

for NKU Athletics?

norse poll responses

For more Norse poll responses and video, visit www.thenortherner.com

Alvin QuiqueSenior,

Integrated Studies"I have no reason to go, but should ... I have a

friend that plays. "

VIEWS

Waiting until 9:30 to cancel classes is bullshit. It is unfair to the professors and stu-dents, not to mention all the students who did make it to class, despite the slick roads, nervous drivers and the snow piling up on the highway.

At around 9:00, accord-ing to www.wlwt.com, there were 242 school and business closings and about 20 winter storm advisories. But had NKU cancelled yet? No. In past Northerner articles, NKU has been hailed for always be-ing open, despite the weather, slick roads or anything else winter can throw our way, but I think that the heads of NKU seem to forget that not everyone lives on campus or in the Highland Heights area. It even says on NKU’s website that 90% of NKU’s 14,000 students commute. So what does that fi gure out to?

About 12,600 commuter stu-dents.

Two of my friends were in wrecks this morning trying to get to class. A girl I know drove over an hour from Indi-ana to be in class at 9:25 and was told at 9:30 that classes had been cancelled. I live on campus, so it’s a bit easier for me. I can walk to class and my math professor is pretty awe-some and gave everyone who showed up today extra credit. So, no harm done to me, but what about other students? What’s a mom with three kids supposed to do when their classes are cancelled, but hers are not?

It is also unfair to the stu-dents who used their better judgment and stayed home. How? Well, today after I was dismissed from class, I heard two professors talking in the hallway about how another

professor was still giving a test even though less than half the class was in atten-dance. And what about the rest of the class? They were going to be told “Sorry, you weren’t here.” How is that fair?

I understand that a lot goes into calling off classes at a university. But I have always thought that going to univer-sity is supposed to teach you to think for yourself, but no-body here at NKU seems to want to practice what they preach to us in the class-rooms. Few here, students in-cluded, seem to want to take responsibility for anything and it doesn’t matter who it is, the situation or anything else you factor in. NKU’s commercials talk about how they’re raising “leaders” but they fail to be leaders when more than a grade is at risk.

Driving in the snowNKU needs to cancel class earlier, so students aren’t stuck on roadsBetina Kemker Copy desk chief

Staff photoThe roads on campus were rough Feb. 9. The crews, how-ever, had them clear by noon as snow was still falling.

5February 10, 2010

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he holiday season has dwindled into the start of a new decade and the 2010 spring semester is well under-way. The Northern Kentucky Univer-sity baseball team has completed fall workouts and will have seven days of practice before suiting up for open-ing day as they look to continue their dominance in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

NKU is ranked No. 28 in the Divi-sion II National Poll, as announced by the Collegiate Baseball Newspa-per on Dec. 21, 2009. The Norse, who amassed five GLVC Tournament ti-tles from 2002 through 2009, won the GLVC Tournament last season and are picked to repeat as the GLVC East Division champions.

NKU is bringing back plenty of ex-perience, with 16 seniors returning for the 2010 season. These 16 have battled through the rigorous demands of a full collegiate season and under-stand what it takes to win games.

Senior first baseman, Evan Mc-Dole, returns for a fifth year at NKU and is favored to be an All-American

candidate. McDole was selected as the GLVC Player of the Year, Ameri-can Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), Daktronics Midwest Re-gion Player of the Year, ABCA Gold Glove recipient and a third-team All-American in 2009. He has also been named team captain by his team-mates, according to the NKU Sports Information Web site. His leadership on the field will be important to the Norse’s success throughout the sea-son.

“We (the seniors) all take a little bit of ownership to the team,” Mc-Dole said. “Hopefully that can carry us deep into the tournament. Any-thing less than a regional title will be a failure, especially with all the expe-rience and hunger we have from los-ing at the end of last year.”

McDole recorded a batting average of .355 in 61 games last season. He led the team in home runs with 15 and runs batted in (RBI) with 55.

Along with power and finesse, the Norse also return a duo of base stealers in seniors Pat Muth and Ja-

son Cisper. The two combined for 31 steals last season and will likely in-crease those numbers in their final campaign with the Black and Gold. Muth led the team with 16 and Cisper followed with 15. These dynamic base runners will play a large role in the running attack for Coach Todd Asa-lon.

Cisper also led the team in batting average (.415) and hits (81) last year. He recorded 20 doubles, two triples and five home runs in the leadoff spot for NKU.

“We have more speed than last year, so we will probably run more,” Cisper said. “Coach likes to put pres-sure on the defense, we may not have as many power numbers this year, but overall our lineup is stacked with bet-ter overall hitters.”

Senior left-hander Kevin Jordan is a returning ace on the Norse’s pitch-ing staff. Jordan had appeared in re-lief 30 out of 32 games, throwing for 77 innings last season. He led the team with seven victories and posted an earned run average of 2.22 while

holding opposing batters to just a .209 batting average.

The Norse have three left-handed pitchers returning that started ten games or more last season. Junior Dave Middendorf (12 games), senior Ryan Schmidt (11) and senior Jarrett Casey (10) look to collect even more starts on the hill top for NKU.

The trio also combined for a total of 175 strikeouts with Middendorf leading the team with 72 strikeouts. These three starters will be expected to be the leaders on the mound and they must be successful for NKU to climb up in the standings.

The Norse finished the 2009 season with a 41-22 record overall and a 20-12 record in the GLVC. NKU enjoyed a 22-9 home record within the friend-ly confines of the Bill Aker Baseball Complex. This season the team will look to improve that overall record, defend their GLVC title and advance deep into the NCAA tournament.

NKU will begin play against Lin-coln Memorial at 1:00 p.m. on Feb. 17 in Harrogate, Tenn.

Play Ball!Baseball team swings into actionMike CollinsStaff writer

6 Edition 45, Issue 5 7February 10, 2010

T

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he holiday season has dwindled into the start of a new decade and the 2010 spring semester is well under-way. The Northern Kentucky Univer-sity baseball team has completed fall workouts and will have seven days of practice before suiting up for open-ing day as they look to continue their dominance in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

NKU is ranked No. 28 in the Divi-sion II National Poll, as announced by the Collegiate Baseball Newspa-per on Dec. 21, 2009. The Norse, who amassed five GLVC Tournament ti-tles from 2002 through 2009, won the GLVC Tournament last season and are picked to repeat as the GLVC East Division champions.

NKU is bringing back plenty of ex-perience, with 16 seniors returning for the 2010 season. These 16 have battled through the rigorous demands of a full collegiate season and under-stand what it takes to win games.

Senior first baseman, Evan Mc-Dole, returns for a fifth year at NKU and is favored to be an All-American

candidate. McDole was selected as the GLVC Player of the Year, Ameri-can Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), Daktronics Midwest Re-gion Player of the Year, ABCA Gold Glove recipient and a third-team All-American in 2009. He has also been named team captain by his team-mates, according to the NKU Sports Information Web site. His leadership on the field will be important to the Norse’s success throughout the sea-son.

“We (the seniors) all take a little bit of ownership to the team,” Mc-Dole said. “Hopefully that can carry us deep into the tournament. Any-thing less than a regional title will be a failure, especially with all the expe-rience and hunger we have from los-ing at the end of last year.”

McDole recorded a batting average of .355 in 61 games last season. He led the team in home runs with 15 and runs batted in (RBI) with 55.

Along with power and finesse, the Norse also return a duo of base stealers in seniors Pat Muth and Ja-

son Cisper. The two combined for 31 steals last season and will likely in-crease those numbers in their final campaign with the Black and Gold. Muth led the team with 16 and Cisper followed with 15. These dynamic base runners will play a large role in the running attack for Coach Todd Asa-lon.

Cisper also led the team in batting average (.415) and hits (81) last year. He recorded 20 doubles, two triples and five home runs in the leadoff spot for NKU.

“We have more speed than last year, so we will probably run more,” Cisper said. “Coach likes to put pres-sure on the defense, we may not have as many power numbers this year, but overall our lineup is stacked with bet-ter overall hitters.”

Senior left-hander Kevin Jordan is a returning ace on the Norse’s pitch-ing staff. Jordan had appeared in re-lief 30 out of 32 games, throwing for 77 innings last season. He led the team with seven victories and posted an earned run average of 2.22 while

holding opposing batters to just a .209 batting average.

The Norse have three left-handed pitchers returning that started ten games or more last season. Junior Dave Middendorf (12 games), senior Ryan Schmidt (11) and senior Jarrett Casey (10) look to collect even more starts on the hill top for NKU.

The trio also combined for a total of 175 strikeouts with Middendorf leading the team with 72 strikeouts. These three starters will be expected to be the leaders on the mound and they must be successful for NKU to climb up in the standings.

The Norse finished the 2009 season with a 41-22 record overall and a 20-12 record in the GLVC. NKU enjoyed a 22-9 home record within the friend-ly confines of the Bill Aker Baseball Complex. This season the team will look to improve that overall record, defend their GLVC title and advance deep into the NCAA tournament.

NKU will begin play against Lin-coln Memorial at 1:00 p.m. on Feb. 17 in Harrogate, Tenn.

Play Ball!Baseball team swings into actionMike CollinsStaff writer

6 Edition 45, Issue 5 7February 10, 2010

T

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A&E

Vern Hockney/Staff Writer“Boy in a Cage” is one of the students favorite statues as well as the most controversial.

Vern HockneyStaff writer

An Enchanted World NKU serves up interesting art

8 Edition 45, Issue 5

Students at Northern Ken-tucky University hustle from class to class everyday-talk-ing, laughing, smoking, en-grossed in their own world. Few take the time to re-ally examine what is around them on campus, especially the art. But, NKU is full of art. Every turn confronts students with a new mural, picture, or sculpture.

Two works by Frank Stella greet students when they walk into the lobby of Greaves Hall. Those who discover Stella’s work be-come privy to the myriad of images, resembling whales,

water and the sky, which seem to jump out from the multi-layered paper and swaths of abstract forms. Some may even see an ab-stract Yin-Yang symbol in the paintings, serving as a reminder of the conflict and balance between good and evil in their life.

A wire sculpture sits at the entrance to the Corbett Theater-its slightly oxidized frame acting as a three-di-mensional Rorschach image for whoever passes, asking them-“What am I feeling?”

Three lifelike eagle paint-ings set in their natural habi-

tat watch over the lobby of Corbett. Oddly human char-acteristics shine through, al-lowing the viewer to differ-entiate aspects of their own personality through each of the birds.

In the science building, art is scattered throughout sev-eral of the interior windows. Patterns of cells and mol-ecules being drawn together to form compounds, along with forms of bones and shells frame lounges allow-ing passers-by to realize that science too can be art when viewed with the proper mind set. Even the massive brass

colored ball that is tethered from the ceiling glides deli-cately through a sand pit to create a scene reminiscent of the ocean floor or an ever changing zen garden.

But not all are cooped up within buildings. Some works of peculiar art also persist on the campus grounds. The “Big Ugly Box” sits austerely over the plaza and Universi-ty Center. This piece of mini-malist art serves aesthetic and practical purposes. Stu-dents slide down the incline side facing Steely Library while the other side may be used as a natural megaphone

for a drummer.Built by Donald Judd, the

box was intended to “Have a contrast with the starkness of our early concrete build-ings on campus,” according to David Knight Director of Exhibitions and Collections at NKU. When viewed in this manner, the concrete jungle begins to disappear and the observer begins to notice subtle differences around them.

The large, encompassing sundial on the plaza level sits

See ART on page 9

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9February 10, 2010

ART from page 8

A&E

Vern Hockney/Staff WriterThe sculptures on campus help make NKU unique.

outside Nunn Hall and creates an obstacle course for students as they weave back and forth between classes. With some of the massive roman numeral inscribed blocks missing, the structure resembles Stone-henge, with its rough hewn stone weathered by many de-cades of wind and rain.

Addison Clipson, one of the architects who helped design parts of NKU, is re-sponsible for the sundial as well as the “Dust Devil” and “Crystal Window Box” sculp-tures which can be found by the Chase Law College and Founders Hall, according to documentation provided by Knight.

Some pieces of art have even caused controversy among students. One such sculpture is the boy in the cage, designed by a former NKU student,

Dan Collett, and is located outside of the Steely Cafe facing Landrum. Some view-ers believed that the subject for the sculpture was slavery, however, Professor Fink, who teaches sculpture at NKU, says the inspiration for the piece came when Collett read the philosophical novel Ishmael, written by Daniel Quinn, and is not a reference to slavery.

Art has even been removed from the campus, such as the sculpture “Way Down East,” which depicted fi lm pioneer D.W. Griffi th and actress Mary Pickford. The sculpture was commissioned in the late 70’s and sustained a place on the plaza level, just outside the University Center, and later near the bottom level of the fi ne arts building, until being dismantled and placed in stor-age away from public view in

2004, due to racial controversy surrounding Griffi th and the various movies that he pro-duced, such as “Birth of a Na-tion”.

This is by no means an ex-haustive list. NKU has so much art that even some of the buildings were designed to be artistic. The new Informat-ics building will be art in and of itself.

Unfortunately, most stu-dents just walk past these works without giving them a second thought.

“One of the ultimate pur-poses of art is to create conver-sation and dialogue,”Knight said.

The art at NKU offers stu-dents ample opportunity to engage in conversation and imagine different aspects of life. Now, all we have to do is open our eyes.

Page 10: The Northerner Print Edition - February 10, 2010

SPORTS

10 Edition 45, Issue 5

The Northern Kentucky University Women’s bas-ketball team capped their eighth-straight win with a 61-58 victory over Missouri S&T on Feb. 6. The Norse improve to a 17-6 record overall and an 11-3 record in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

The win over Missouri S&T came two days after a 66-62 victory over Drury (18-6, 10-3 GLVC). Both games featured an all-around scoring effort from Norse players, including sophomore guard Casse Mo-gan, who as of the Missouri S&T game has scored double-figures in all 23 of the Black and Gold’s games this season.

Mogan dropped 13 points and dished out five assists during the Drury game, com-plimenting the 18 points from senior forward Rachel Lantry. Lantry shot 92 percent from the free throw line—sinking 11 of her 12 attempts.

“I haven’t really had the best of games in the previous two. I have kind of been get-ting into foul trouble—so this game I definitely wanted to step up and be there for my team,” Lantry said.

NKU seemed to be patient within their offensive sets and shot an impressive 50 percent from the field in the Drury game allowing plenty of scoring opportunities. Along with totals from Mogan and Lantry, sophomore forward Whitney Levering scored nine points. Senior forward Brandi Rayburn and junior guard Jessie Carmack added six points each.

Coach Nancy Winstel says patience turned into tenta-tiveness in the second half.

“At the end of the first half we hit that three and we went up eight, but I knew it wasn’t going to be easy in the second half,” she said. “I felt like in that second half we kind of

just held on – we never really got into a flow offensively and some of it was because of our turnovers and I think you have to give credit to (Drury) for their pressure.”

The Norse dropped from a 59 percent first-half field goal percentage to a 38 percent in the second-half. After hitting 4 of 9 from behind the arc in the first half, NKU wasn’t able to connect on any of their five second half three-point attempts.

The defensive pressure by Drury made the Black and Gold work for every basket. In the end, though, NKU’s poised play down the stretch was a huge factor in their win.

“I’m really proud of our kids and the way we hung in there,” Winstel said. “As a coach, you always want to be better. I tell them I think we should win every game by 25, but that’s being unrealistic, but I also think it’s good to raise the bar. I think I always expect more out of them than they possibly think they can do, but then somewhere down the road, they’re achieving at a higher level than I think ev-eryone thought we could. It’s only February, though, and there’s still a lot of basketball left. But this was a great game to experience at this time and obviously even bigger to win.”

After a shaky start to their season, with winning streaks and losing streaks appearing to come in random order, the Norse seem to have things on the right track. One of their most noticeable improve-ments has been the offensive contributions coming from numerous players instead of just a select few like in games before

“We have a lot of people who can shine on this team — there’s not really just one person,” Lantry said. “If it’s

not Mo it’s Brandi. If it’s not Brandi, it’s somebody else. It’s really good that we had a lot of people score in this game and we got to see a lot from everybody.”

This was also evident in the Norse’s win over Missouri S&T (11-11, 6-8 GLVC). Mo-gan led the team in scoring with 16 points followed by Lantry with 14. Rayburn add-ed 10 and Levering dropped in nine points ultimately lead-ing to NKU’s 61-58 victory.

The Missouri S&T game wasn’t always in the Norse’s favor, though. NKU trailed by five heading into half time, and had already made 11 turnovers. They were held to

a 38 percent field goal per-centage and struggled to get shots to fall.

NKU finally claimed their first lead 13 minutes into the second half with a score of 48-46. From there, they would rely on clutch free throws to ultimately seal the win. De-spite their comeback victory, Winstel was all but pleased with her team’s effort and ad-mits that they were fortunate to come away with a win.

“When we’ve been success-ful, it’s because we’re work-ing really hard,” Winstel said. “I don’t necessarily think that we’re outworking the other team, but we’re working very hard, and today we didn’t do

it — and we’re very fortunate we won the ball game.

“I would expect this level of effort in November from a young team, but not in February. I should probably let them off the hook...but I thought our effort stunk. To their credit, we hung on to win it, but, you know, if we want to be any kind of a good team, we can’t bring this. If we do this to Bellarmine next week, we’ll lose by 30.”

NKU visits archrival Bel-larmine at 5:45 p.m. Feb. 11. NKU defeated Bellarmine 76-58 in their last meeting which took place on Jan. 23 in The Bank of Kentucky Cen-ter.

Eight in a rowWomen’s team starting to shineDrew LaskeySports Editor

Tim Downer/Staff PhotographerSophomore Sadie Bowling protects the ball while playing against Missouri S&T. Lady Norse will be at Bellarmine Feb. 11

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11February 10, 2010

SPORTS

Chris Knight’s career-high 21 points led the way to a con-vincing 72-54 rout of Missouri S&T on Feb. 6 for Northern Kentucky University’s Men’s basketball team’s second-straight win. NKU is now 13-10 overall with a 6-8 Great Lakes Valley Conference re-cord.

The Norse came into Home-coming weekend fresh off a 65-61 win over 14th-ranked Drury (18-4, 9-2 GLVC) on Feb. 4. Senior center David Palmer led the team in scor-ing and rebounding against Drury as he posted 16 points and pulled down 17 rebounds. Along with his offensive pro-ductivity inside, Palmer also made his presence known on the defensive side of the ball with fi ve blocks. Junior guard Dennis Gagai contributed 14 points for the Norse and Knight added 10 points of his own.

Defense was key for the Norse against Drury, limiting the Panthers to 37 percent shooting from the fi eld, forc-ing 13 turnovers and blocking seven shots.

“Tonight we didn’t foul as much,” said Coach Dave Bezold. “We’re a pretty good defensive team because David Palmer makes it diffi cult for the other team. If we cut down the fouls, we can beat anybody we run into.”

Defense seemed to be lack-ing for the Black and Gold in the opening minutes, though, as Drury shot out to a 12-4 lead. After a few traded bas-kets, Gagai stepped up and drained two three-pointers to bring the Norse to within three. A three-pointer by sophomore guard Tony Rack gave the Norse their fi rst lead with just two minutes to play in the fi rst half. Both teams went into the locker rooms with the score tied at 25-all.

Everything clicked for NKU

after the halftime break, as they compiled a 14-2 run over Drury to give them a comfort-able lead 39-27. Eight minutes into the second half Drury’s Alex Hall, who leads the team in points per game, was ejected after his second technical foul. He fi nished with fi ve points, which is 13 below his season average.

Drury made a late charge to get back in the game when ju-nior guard Chase Elliot made two free throws with just over a minute left. His second made free throw capped off an 11-2 run that cut the Norse advan-tage to four, 62-58. Drury be-

gan to foul in an attempt to extend the game, but Palmer made two free throws for the Norse with 23 seconds left to give NKU a 64-58 lead. Drury hit a late three, but was un-able to get any closer and the Norse led 65-61.

Heading into Homecom-ing’s basketball game, the Norse faced a scrappy but tough Missouri S&T team. Knight came out aggressively and made six straight points to start the game.

“I’m starting to understand the motion,” Knight said. “Last year we (Bowling Green State University) ran mostly

sets, but we run motion here. It takes awhile to get to learn ev-eryone’s movements but I’m starting to get it now.”

The run didn’t stop there as NKU jumped out to a 10-0 lead in just four minutes of play, prompting a time out by the Missouri S&T coaching staff. NKU scored again after the time out on an Erik Stenger jumper at the 16:13 mark, but Missouri S&T fi nally got on the board a minute later. The Norse never looked back from their initial run, out-rebound-ing Missouri S&T by 20 and shooting 48 percent from the fi eld and 38 percent from be-

hind the arc for the game — all of which were large factors in their 18-point victory.

Palmer took advantage of the size mismatches the de-fense threw at him and he fi n-ished the game with 17 points and 14 rebounds for his second double-double of the week-end and seventh of the season. Tony Rack contributed nine points off the bench, hitting 3-7 from downtown.

“It’s coming down to crunch time and we’re trying to get a spot to go to the NCAA tour-nament,” Knight said. “We know we have the team to do it, because we’ve beaten the number thirteen team and the number one ranked team in the region, so we’re trying to keep up with our intensity.”

NKU went to the line 26 times and connected on 19 of their free-throw attempts. They limited their fouls to only 13 for the game, which signifi -cantly reduced the number of easy opportunities from the charity stripe for the Miners.

“I think we’re starting to come together, I really, re-ally do,” Bezold said. “There’s confi dence, they’re starting to understand their roles and you can see it coming and we’re coming at the right time. We just have to be tougher, we re-ally do, and I think we’re start-ing to fi gure out and what it means to be that.”

The Norse visit archrival Bellarmine on Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. Bellarmine defeated NKU 74-69 in their last meeting on Jan. 23.

“We just cleared the confer-ence and now we get to go in-side our division and fi nish this off with four games,” Bezold said. “Two really tough on the road, and two really tough at home, so now we get to see what we’re made of. I think this team is ready to step up to whatever challenges we face and handle them.”

Drew LaskeySports Editor

Starting to come togetherBezold: Team ready to step up to challenges.

Tim Downer/Staff PhotographerChris Knight (24) puts up a shot over a Missouri S&T player in the fi rst half.

Page 12: The Northerner Print Edition - February 10, 2010

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