— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The Marshall women’s basketball team will have to wait until Wednesday for the next chance to secure its first regular-season home win under rookie coach Juli Fulks.
Northern Kentucky, coming off a 70-41 loss at Kentucky, got a clutch basket in the closing seconds to edge the Thundering Herd, 80-78, in a matinee Sunday at Cam Henderson Center.
Meredith Maier made a layup with 17 seconds left to put Marshall ahead, 78-77.
Northern Kentucky worked for the final shot and leading scorer Halle Idowe missed with 4 seconds remaining. The Norse kept the ball as Maier got called for a foul on the rebound try. On the second chance, Macey Blevins passed to Mya Meredith on the right wing and she then kicked the ball back to Blevins, who nailed the game-winning three-pointer for the Norse (1-2).
“I’m really impressed with how we competed, how we came back,” Fulks said. “Losing CC (Mays to ankle injury in the second quarter) hurt. Things got really far away from us. I’m glad when the half came. Figure out what the new plan would be. That’s two games in a row we’ve been right there. We had a chance at the end. We’ve got to figure out how to win the last minute. That’s on me.”
Idowe finished with a game-high 29 points. She connected on 13-of-18 shots to go along with a team-high rebounds.
Kalissa Lacy, from George Washington High, added 12 points and Blevins 10. Lacy sank three treys.
Maier paced Marshall (0-2) with 25 points. Aislynn Hayes netted 20 and CC Mays and Madison Kellione 10 each. Mays had a career-best 20 in the 71-68 loss to Toledo in the Sun Belt-Mid-American Conference Challenge last week.
“The last play I take full responsibility,” Maier said. “I allowed it to happen. Mistakes happen. I have to remember that.”
Blessing King led the Herd in rebounds with eight and Kellione led in assists with six.
“One of the challenges was the second quarter Meredith had gotten really tired and we needed to get her a sub,” Fulks said. “Probably too little, too late. She played super hard. Her ability to shoot the ball always gives you a chance.”
Containing Idowe was difficult for the Herd.
“I knew she could shoot. She hit shots from a lot of different places,” Fulks said. “We needed to adjust to her sooner. Deeper we went on the bench things got away from us. Taking shots too fast on offense. It starts with to understand the movement that needs to happen.”
Northern Kentucky, under rookie coach Jeff Hans, led at the half, 51-39. The Norse shot 47 from the field, 41 percent from three. They had 10 threes to 11 for the Herd. They shot just 26 percent from the floor against Kentucky.
Maier recalls how the new-look Herd survived a slow start a year ago to win the Sun Belt Conference and go to the NCAA Tournament.
“Defensively, there are little things we have to improve on, add to the building block,” Maier said. “We’re adapting to coach Fulks and each other. We believe in each other. Coming along slowly but surely. If we believe in each other we can accomplish anything.”
The Norse had a 31-13 scoring edge in bench points. Blevins nailed a three early in the third period to Norse a 13-point lead, their biggest of the game.
The game had 16 lead changes with eight coming in the tight final period.
This was the eighth meeting between the two schools. The Norse have won seven.
Marshall returns to action Wednesday against Elon at the Henderson Center. Game time is 6 p.m.