Feb. 6, 2010

Balanced Attack Leads WBB To Big Sky Road Victory


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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The location may have been different, but the score was identical as the Northern Colorado women's basketball team picked up its first road victory in Big Sky Conference play of the year with a 66-56 victory at Northern Arizona on Saturday evening.

The Bears (11-12, 3-6 BSC) earn the season sweep over the Lumberjacks (5-17, 3-6 BSC) with the exact same score in both contests. The team was without leading scorer Whitley Cox, who did not make the trip due to an injury, but had a well balanced scoring attack to make up for her loss.

For the second-straight conference game, freshman forward Lauren Oosdyke tallied 24 points, leading all players in the game. Junior guard Courtney Stoermer and sophomore forward Kaisha Brown were also in double figures in points with 15 and 10, respectively. Oosdyke and senior guard Lizzie Cooper led the team with six rebounds each, while Stoermer had a game-high five assists.

"Courtney hit a couple of big time threes tonight," said Head Coach Jaime White. "We played solid, decided we were going to pound it inside early and Lara (Merritt) and Lauren got it done. Our insides played really smart. Lauren stepped up and hit some free throws when it mattered. Defensively I thought we were really solid, we really answered when we needed to."

The Bears trailed extremely early, 4-2, but took the lead on a Brown three-pointer, 5-4 and never trailed again, leading by as many 17, 48-31 at 15:40 in the second half after Cooper added a three-pointer of her own. In the first half, the Bears were unstoppable, shooting .625 from the field (15-24), including hitting 3-of-5 from the three-point line. NC also did a better job from the free throw line in the game, hitting over 70 percent for the first time in seven contests, shooting .708 (17-for-24).

Freshman guard Amy Patton continued to lead the Lumberjacks, scoring 19 points. Lauren Hoisington led the game with seven rebounds, while Caty Huntington had a game-best four steals.

After playing on the road for 26 days and five games, the Bears finally return home to Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion on Thursday when they host Idaho State on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. Prior to the game, the Bears will help celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day in the recreation center at 5:15. All students eighth grade and under are invited for the free sports clinic. The first 100 girls will receive a free t-shirt and all clinic participants will get a free ticket to the game.

"This is a great way to start the second half of Big Sky play, with a win on the road," said White. "We really feel like we missed the boat with those two (Idaho State and Weber State) on the road. We feel like it's going to be a different story at home. We're playing good and we're excited to get to play at home in our gym, in front of our fans."


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