West Virginia daily

It hasn't been easy, but Nancy Winstel is starting to get a feel for her Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team. There is quite a bit Winstel likes about her young group of wide-eyed players, but there is much the coach aims to correct.

NKU played inconsistent basketball against hard-nosed Hills- dale, and Karmen Graham, while playing well, couldn't duplicate the heroic effort she turned in on Monday, and the Norse paid the price. Hillsdale beat NKU on its home court, 58-52, in the final game of the two-day, round-robin Sunday Challenger Classic at Regents Hall.

Graham followed up Monday's 31-point outburst with a team-high 17 points against Hillsdale, but the Chargers forced Graham to get the majority of her points at the free-throw line, where the junior center converted 11 of 13 shots.

Graham hit just three of eight shots from the floor after dropping in 12 of 13 on Monday. The rest of the Norse remained in a shooting funk, and that resulted in 38.3-percent accuracy overall against Hillsdale, which slapped tight man-to-man pressure on NKU one night after the Norse blew up West Virginia Wesleyan's zone.

While Winstel found her team's poor shooting exasperating, she was most disappointed in NKU's inability to protect the basketball and make possessions count against the pesky Chargers, who forced 22 Norse turnovers and blocked three shots.

"We can't turn the ball over in double-digits (14) like we did in the first half," Winstel said. "And we need to have more people step up (offensively) because we can't expect Karmen to score 30 points every night."

Sophomore point guard Nicole Chiodi was the lone Norse starter hitting at least half her shots from the field against Hillsdale (10-2). Chiodi finished 4-for-8 shooting and had eight points and seven rebounds, but just two assists and four turnovers.

Junior guard Karyn Creager was the only Norse player other than Graham to score in double-figures. Creager shot 4-for-11 from the field and finished with 10 points.

Everybody other than Graham combined to shoot 34.2 percent from the floor, and 30 percent (6-for-20) from 3-point range in the tournament for the Norse.

NKU entered the two-day event shooting 42.8 percent overall and 34.9 percent from beyond the arc, figures Winstel would like to see go much higher.

"We're just too inconsistent from game to game right now," the coach said. "On any given night we get people who play great, but then other people who we depend on don't step up."

A positive has been NKU's defense. The Norse are holding opponents to 34.7 percent shooting overall and a stingy 27.2 percent from 3-point range. Hillsdale shot 40 percent from the floor Tuesday, 37.5 percent on 3-pointers. NKU entered tournament play leading Great Lakes Valley Conference teams in scoring defense (51.7 ppg.) and blocks (5.7).

"Our defense is always key for us. We pride ourselves on that," Graham said. "But when we play a good team like (Hillsdale), we have to take better care of the ball."

The Norse hit the one-third mark of the 27-game regular-season schedule with a 6-3 record. That's a significant improvement over last season's 3-6 mark at the same juncture, a season that started 0-5 for the Norse but ended with a 16-12 record.

This season's NKU squad is far less experienced. More importantly, the Norse are less experienced with each other. Yet, they have forged a winning record against a tough schedule.

"We just need to be more consistent, and that comes from learning," Winstel said. "Our want-to is very high, but sometimes I think we still don't know how to. But we're working on that."

Wustman 8-11 2-3 18, Fewins 4-8 2-2 11, Carlson 5-9 2-3 15, Rocco 3-6 0-0 8, Haines 1-7 0-0 2, Slot 1-7 0-0 2, Yoder 0-7 2-2 2. Totals 22-55 8-10 58.

Winner 1-4 0-0 2, Graham 3-8 11-13 17, Healy 2-6 1-1 5, Chiodi 4-8 0-2 8, Creager 4-11 0-0 10, Clark 0-1 0-0 0, Brackman 0-1 0-0 0, Butler 2-5 0-0 5, Brannen 2-3 1-2 5. Totals 18-47 13-18 52.

Halftime -Hillsdale, 26-22. 3-pointers -Hillsdale 6-16 (Fewins 1-2, Carlson 3-5, Rocco 2-3, Haines 0-3, Slot 0-1, Yoder 0-2), NKU 3-8 (Graham 0-1, Healy 0-1, Chiodi 0-1, Creager 2-3, Butler 1-2). Rebounds -Hillsdale 31 (Wustman 8), NKU 36 (Winner, Brannen 7). Assists -Hillsdale 12 (Carlson 6), NKU 10 (Chiodi, Butler 2). Fouled out -Chiodi. Fouls -Hillsdale 17, NKU 13.

This is cache, read story here