PROVIDENCE, R.I.– The Providence College women's basketball team needed to rely its defense to claim a 48-43 victory over Northern Kentucky on Dec. 20 in Providence, R.I.  The Friars gave up 19 points in the first quarter, then held the Norse to single digits in each of the following three quarters to close the game.
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Providence didn't take its first lead of the day until the opening play of the third quarter as
Andrea Cooper (Edmond, Okla.) cashed in on a lay-up.  PC led by as many as four (35-31) with 4:37 left in the quarter, and maintained a three-point advantage heading into the final 10 minutes as freshman
Kaela Webb (Pontiac, Mich.) scored a lay-up with 33-seconds left.
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Northern Kentucky refused to go away, tying the game on two occasions in the fourth quarter.  The game was knotted at 43-43 with 1:20 left in regulation. Sophomore
Olivia Orlando (Winthrop, Mass.) converted a go-ahead lay-up with two-seconds to play off a crafty feed from
Chanell Williams (Bronx, N.Y.), and the Friars went on to secure the win with 3-4 shooting at the charity stripe.
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Williams paced the Friars with 12 points and added six rebounds, five assists and one steal. Â
Jovana Nogic (Belgrade, Serbia) finished the day with 10 points, five rebounds, two steals, one assist and a career-best three blocked shots.  Orlando cracked double digits with 10 points and collected six rebounds and two blocked shots.
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Alyssa Geary (Elmhurst, Ill.) tallied five points and joined Williams and Orlando for the team lead in rebounding with six boards.
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Providence faced a 10-point deficit with 1:24 remaining on the clock in the first quarter (19-9). Providence tightened its defense and steadily chipped way in the second quarter, and managed to tie the game heading into halftime, 26-26. Â
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Nogic, Geary and Orlando each tallied five points in the opening 20 minutes.  Providence shot just 34.6-percent in the first half (9-26), while Northern Kentucky converted 41.7-percent of its attempts (10-24).
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Providence College returns for the final day of the 2018 Friar Holiday Classic on Friday, Dec. 21 against La Salle. Tip-off is slated for 2:30 p.m., following a match-up between Pepperdine and Northern Kentucky (Noon).
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- GO FRIARS! -
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