Cold Shooting Hampers Bears at CSU

BOXSCORE: at Colorado State

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Shooting a season-low .305 from the field did nothing to help the Northern Colorado women's basketball team, which was out-sized by Colorado State and dropped 62-47 decision. The Bears even their season record at 3-3, while the Rams improve to2-5.

Senior forward Jamie Schroeder, who played most of the game in foul trouble, scored a team-best 15 points and had six rebounds, while junior guard Whitley Cox scored in double figures for the fifth-straight game with 12 points and a team-best three assists.

Northern Colorado also shot just .227 from beyond the arc, making a season low five three-pointers, and shot just 50 percent from the free throw line, making 6-of-12 attempts. Colorado State shot .422 from the field, but managed just .133 from the three-point line and also made just 6-of-12 from the free throw line.  Rebounding was the big difference in the contest as the Rams out-boarded the Bears 51-34.

Colorado State was led in scoring by Chatil Van Grinsven with 18 points, while Juanise Cornell tallied a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Kim Mestdagh also scored 10 points. Amaka Uzomah led all players with 18 rebounds.

"We were definitely out-sized tonight," said Head Coach Jaime White. "It showed in the rebounding especially."

Trailing 4-0 the Bears got on the board with Cox' first three-pointer of the year. She became the eighth player this season to hit one. Kevorken gave the Bears their first lead, hitting a three-pointer for the 6-4 advantage. After CSU tied the game, Schroeder took her second charge of the game, which resulted in a Cox layup and the 8-6 lead.

After no scoring by the Bears for almost three minutes, Cox went coast-to-coast for another layup and a 15-12 scoreboard. Schroeder scored the next five for the Bears for the 20-15 lead, but CSU used a 6-0 scoring run to take the 21-20 lead with 5:18 on the clock and scored the next five for the 26-20 score. Schroeder snapped the 11-0 Rams run with a putback and then made the free throw to pull the Bears back within three, 26-23. Cox brought NC back within one with a jumper as the shot clock expired, a defensive stop with an over-the-back foul gave Stoermer two free throws. She made the first to tie the score at 26-26 with 15.7 seconds on the clock and the teams entered the locker room knotted.

The Bears shot just .385 in the first half, the lowest output of the season and were just 3-for-8 (.375) from the free throw line. Schroeder had four of the team's seven offensive rebounds in the first stanz and ended the half leading the game with five total boards.

Kevorken opened the second half with a three-pointer, her second of the game giving her multiple treys in every game this year. Cox had a big steal and another fast-break layup and on the next possession Cooper hit a three-pointer for the 34-28 lead. CSU scored four straight after calling a timeout, making the score 34-32. Colorado State took its first lead of the second half with just over 12 minutes to play, 39-38 on a Uzomah layup. The extended the lead to 43-38 before Schroeder hit a jumper for the 43-40 tally on the board.

The Rams extended their lead to eight, 50-42 on a Cornell jumper and Coach White called for a timeout. Both teams went cold as the Bears went 4:27 without a field goals and the Rams went 3:26 before the teams hit back-to-back shots to make the score 53-45. After Stoermer hit a pair of free throws, CSU scored nine straight to extend the lead to 14, 62-47, which was the final tally of the game.

Northern Colorado concludes its five-game road trip with a game at UMKC on Dec. 13 before returning home to host New Mexico State on Dec. 16 in a double-header with the men's team. The women are scheduled to tip at 5, while the men tip 30 minutes after the conclusion of the women's contest.