Tonight the Women’s Basketball team kicked off their season versus the Northern Kentucky Norse. On two days notice the notice the Norse agreed to come play instead of the originally scheduled opponent in North Carolina A&T who had to cancel due to the new Covid-19 protocols in the state of North Carolina. The Bearcats started slow, but managed to comeback and beat the Norse in overtime, 73-67.
The Bearcats got off to a very slow start in their home opener. The Norse came out in a tough 2-3 zone that gave the Bearcats some trouble the first half. Coach Heard made a lot of great adjustments going into the second half to get the home team rolling. Going into the second half the Bearcats trailed the Norse 26-17 then out scored them 39-30 to force overtime.
Senior Ilmar’i Thomas was the star of the game with a game high 34 points. She had a slow start in the first half with only six points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field, but man did she turn it on in the 2nd half finishing with 21 points heading into overtime. In overtime Thomas stole the show adding to her total and finishing with 34 points on 14-of-23 from the field. Thomas also finished with six assists and seven rebounds. Thomas spoke to the media after the game about her massive performance and when asked about the adjustments for the second half she said, “Coach knew we had to switch it up get the ball in my hands to put some points on the board. I am a scorer someone had to takeover and that’s what I did.” After the 2nd half Thomas you could have seen why she was voted AAC Co-Player of the Year.
Redshirt senior Arame Niang played a big role tonight as she finished the game with 13 points on 4-of-8 from the field as well as grabbing six rebounds. Niang also was clutch at the free throw line shooting 5-of-5 on the game before fouling out in overtime.
Another key player for the Bearcats was true freshman Jillian Hayes she played a lot of key minutes although the stat sheet may say different I liked the play from her tonight. Sister to NBA star Jaxson Hayes she showed her length and ability to get up and down the court. Hayes came up with some keys steals on defense to force some turnovers to get the Bearcats back in this game. Hayes will look to play a big role this year and it showed tonight as the freshman logged 24 minutes tonight off the bench.
The Bearcats had a impressive second half after being held to 17 points in the first half to finishing with 73 is crazy. The Bearcats offense got to clicking in the second half and it all started with senior Ilmar’i Thomas.
The Bearcats will host No. 5 ranked Louisville this Saturday at 2 pm make sure to check it out on ESPN+.
