#HLWBB Preview: Northern Kentucky

October 31

Joey Yashinsky

Northern Kentucky Norse

Last year: 9-22 overall, 5-13 Horizon League

Coach: Camryn Whitaker (2nd year)

Team Preview

During Camryn Whitaker’s playing career, she was known as a feisty guard with a tremendous competitive spirit. She’ll be looking for that same tenacity and fire this year with one of the Horizon League’s youngest rosters.

There will be just a single senior for Northern Kentucky this season, Mikayla Terry, a gritty 5-foot-11 player that can slide to most any position on the floor. She was an integral part of the Norse attack last year and will be counted on once again as this group’s most experienced member.

Big things are also expected from Taryn Taugher, a 5-foot-8 sophomore that epitomizes Coach Whitaker’s preferred brand of relentlessness. Taugher is one of the team’s top outside shooters, but doesn’t mind doing some of the dirty work, too. She fights for rebounds, plays physical defense, and should be one of Whitaker’s most valuable contributors in the 2017-18 campaign.

The team will receive a major boost with Molly Glick’s return to full strength. Glick was voted to the Horizon League All-Freshman team two years ago, making 30 starts while shooting a very respectable 36% from 3-point territory. She then sat out last season with a back injury, but is back healthy now and will likely be one of the focal points of the Norse offensive attack.

The interior for Northern Kentucky will be young, but full of promise. Whitaker is excited about the potential for her freshman bigs.

“Gracen Rose brings us a great deal of size at 6-foot-3,” said Whitaker. “She runs the floor really well, has an extremely high IQ, and works super hard. Also Chyna Anthony, 6-foot-1, will be a big help. A little bit more athleticism, which is just what we’ve needed to complete our team. I look for them to contribute right away. They’ll need to grow up fast.”

The backcourt will be fortified by Hannah Clark, a dangerous 3-point shooter that had clawed into the starting lineup last season before suffering a shoulder injury. She is back playing with full contact now and should be 100% by the season opener. Also keep an eye out for Reece Mungar, a freshman guard with good size at 6-foot-1. Her father, Barry Mungar, was an Olympian for Canada in 1988 and was selected by the Washington Bullets in the 1986 NBA Draft.

It’s still very early in Whitaker’s tenure at Northern Kentucky, now entering year two. With the amount of youth on this year’s squad, there will assuredly be a learning curve and a few bumps along the way. But you can see the foundation beginning to emerge.

Taugher, Glick, and Clark: guards with an unflinching competitive spirit, and each just a sophomore. The unique blend of size and from Rose, Anthony, and other new faces along the frontline. And then Mikalya Terry, the lone senior, trying to make her final collegiate season one to remember.

The future is undoubtedly a bright one for Camryn Whitaker and the Northern Kentucky Norse.

Motor City Madness

Support the Norse at the 2018 Little Caesars Horizon League Basketball Championships March 2-6 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Tickets can be purchased at campus box offices now and online starting December 15. For more information, click here.

#HLWBB Preview Schedule (10 am ET)

10/30/2017	UIC
10/31/2017	Northern Kentucky
11/1/2017	Youngstown State
11/2/2017	IUPUI
11/3/2017	Cleveland State
11/6/2017	Detroit Mercy
11/7/2017	Milwaukee
11/8/2017	Oakland
11/9/2017	Wright State
11/10/2017	Green Bay
11/13/2017	#HLWBB Preview

#HLMBB Preview Schedule (2 pm ET)

10/30/2017	IUPUI
10/31/2017	Cleveland State
11/1/2017	Milwaukee
11/2/2017	Youngstown State
11/3/2017	Green Bay
11/6/2017	Wright State
11/7/2017	Detroit Mercy
11/8/2017	UIC
11/9/2017	Northern Kentucky
11/10/2017	Oakland
11/13/2017	#HLMBB Preview