WBB Heads To Kansas For Two

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Complete Notes

Finally
It took the team until game six to play at home, but they finally got to play in Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion on Wednesday when they hosted Colorado Christian. Trailing by eight points with 1:31 remaining, the Bears used a full-court press defense and got five points from junior guard Courtney Stoermer to knot the score against Colorado Christian and force overtime where they held on for the 79-77 victory. Junior forward Jayne Strand posted her first double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds to lead all players on the glass. Senior guard Whitley Cox led the Bears with 22 points, while Stoermer chipped in 16.

A Month Away
The last time the Bears played the entire month of November on the road was in 2004-05 before playing in Butler on Dec. 2 in game five. It is actually the fourth time since 1999-00 the Bears have not played a home game in the 11th month and the seventh time overall.

A Look at the Warner Center Classic
Northern Colorado split games at the Warner Center Marriott Classic, winning 79-42 against host team Cal State Northridge before falling 73-47 to Providence. The Bears were red-hot in the field versus the Matadors, shooting .508 (31-61) overall and .682 (15-22) from beyond the arc. Against the Friars on Saturday, the team shot just .255 (14-55) from the floor and .267 (4-15) from the three-point line.

NC vs Wichita State
Friday marks just the second all-time meeting between the Shockers and Bears. The two teams met in 2006 in Wichita with the home team winning 80-55.

NC vs Kansas
Sunday will be the first meeting between the Kansas Jayhawks and Northern Colorado Bears in women's basketball.

Scouting Wichita State
After dropping their season opener at Colorado State, the Shockers have rattled of four straight victories - all at home - for a 4-1 mark in 2009-10. Two players average double figures in the scoring column with Haleigh Lankster getting 16.8 and Jessica Diamond averaging 10.0. WSU has used a lot of different starting lineups already this season as nine of the 10 players that have seen action have at least one start with only Lankster starting in all five.

Scouting Kansas
The Jayhawks, who played in the finals of the postseason WNIT last year, are currently 3-0 on the year and host UCLA on Thursday before facing the Bears on Sunday. Four players are averaging double figures in scoring, led by Danielle McCray at 19.3. Both Sade Morris and Aishah Sutherland average 16.0 per game with Sutherland averaging a double-double when the 10.0 rebounds a game get figured in there. Krysten Boogaard also adds 12.7 a night. Kansas crashes the boards hard as they are averaging over 10 more rebounds per game than the opposition (46-35.7).

Against The Missouri Valley
The Bears are searching for their first win against the Missouri Valley Conference this season. NC is currently 0-5 against The Valley, but have Wichita State and Bradley on the docket.

Against The Big 12
Northern Colorado is 6-15 all-time against the current teams in the Big 12 with all six wins coming over Colorado (6-9). The Bears are also 0-3 against Nebraska and 0-1 against Iowa State, Oklahoma and Texas Tech.

On This Date
Northern Colorado is 7-2 in games played on Dec. 4 and will be playing for the first time in five years. They are 2-2 in road games with a 4-0 mark at home and 1-0 on a neutral court. On Dec. 6, the Bears sport a mark of 4-3 and have lost their only true road game on this date. The last two games on Dec. 6 have come against Colorado State in 2006 and 2008, both losses. The Bears are 2-2 at home and 2-0 on a neutral floor.

Familiar Face
On Sunday when assistant coach Paige Sauer looks at the Kansas bench, she'll see a familiar face. KU assistant Tamika (Williams) Raymond and Sauer were teammates at Connecticut together. Sauer earned her degree in 2000, while Raymond graduated in 2002. The pair will be honored on Dec. 23 along with the other 15 members of the 1999-00 team who are being inducted as a group into the "Huskies of Honor" program at Connecticut after winning the national championship.

The Sky's The Limit
Northern Colorado currently leads the Big Sky Conference in three-point field goal percentage, shooting .367 on the year (40-109). The Bears have made at least two triples in each of the six games, including a season-best 15 in the win at Cal State Northridge. Junior Courtney Stoermer leads the way with 15 makes, while sophomore Kaisha Brown is right behind her with 14.

Cox Heads Downtown
Senior guard Whitley Cox nailed a career-high four-three pointers in the win over Colorado Christian, bringing her season total to seven. Last season, Cox only hit two triples and her season high is just nine from beyond the arc. She is also shooting .438 from the three-point line, which ranks among the Big Sky Conference leaders.

On The Plus Side
The overtime win against Colorado Christian on Wednesday marked the 11th extra-period win in school history and the Bears are 11-10 in games that go additional minutes. In games at home, NC is now 4-6 and have won the last three at home.

Three More
Junior guard Courtney Stoermer needs just three more points to become the first player on the team this season to score 100 points. Stoermer has scored at least 300 points in each of her first two seasons for the Bears.

Making A Statement
Junior forward Jayne Strand has been getting more comfortable with the Northern Colorado offense and it really showed against Colorado Christian when she came off the bench to record a double-double. Strand scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, both highs in the Blue & Gold for the Kirkwood CC transfer.

Downtown Kaisha Brown
Sophomore forward Kaisha Brown went a perfect 6-for-6 from the three-point line at Cal State Northridge, scoring a career-best 20 points in the victory. Brown is second on the team with 14 three-pointers and a .452 shooting percentage, both of which rank among the top six in the Big Sky Conference.

Double, Double Toil and Trouble
Redshirt freshman Lauren Oosdyke recorded the first double-double of the season for the Bears, scoring 14 and grabbing 11 rebounds against Eastern Illinois. Junior Jayne Strand answered with one against Colorado Christian, scoring 13 and recording 12 rebounds.

Steady Stoermer
Junior guard Courtney Stoermer leads the conference with an average of 37.5 minutes played a game. In 22 of the 66 games she has played at Northern Colorado, Stoermer has been on the floor for the entire contest and averages 36.1 minutes per game over her career.

Now Appearing
With her 14 points in the opener at New Mexico, senior guard Whitley Cox now ranks in the top-10 in scoring at Northern Colorado. She has 86 points on the year bringing her career tally to 1,134 to rank eighth. With eight more points she will move into seventh past Missy McVoy (1994-98).

Signing With ESPN
The University of Northern Colorado department of athletics is proud to announce it has partnered with ESPN AM 870 for women's basketball radio broadcasts in 2009-10. All regular season games will be available live both over the airwaves at 870 AM, as well as online via audio streaming at www.espn870.net. Northern Colorado alumnus Jason Alvine will be handling the play-by-play duties for the Bears' action.

Helping Hand
Junior guard Courtney Stoermer is rapidly approaching being ranked in the top 10 in career assists at Northern Colorado. Stoermer currently has 221 assists, needing just 16 more to tie Jill Fadenrecht (1999-03) and Denise Nehme (1993-95) for 10th.

Quick Recap
The 2008-09 Bears posted a record of 12-18 and finished seventh in the Big Sky Conference standings. Northern Colorado returns eight letterwinners and four starters from the team for a total of 72.6 percent of its scoring and 73.3 percent of its rebounding. The squad posted a perfect 2-0 record against teams from the Pac-10, defeating both Washington and Washington State in neutral games during tournaments in Cancun and San Francisco, respectively.

Picked Sixth, Eighth
For not the first time in history, and assuredly not the last, there is discrepancy between the women's basketball coaches and media in the Big Sky Conference. The Big Sky office announced the 2009-10 preseason coaches and media polls. The two groups agreed on the top three picks and the ninth selection, but had the middle of the pack in different orders. Northern Colorado is selected sixth among the coaches with 28 points but eighth in the media poll with 66 points. Portland State, Montana and Montana State were tabbed by both groups as the top three, respectively, while Northern Arizona rounded out both polls in ninth. The coaches have Weber State fourth and Idaho State fifth ahead of the Bears, then Eastern Washington and Sacramento State in seventh and eighth, respectively. The media ranked Idaho State fourth, Sacramento State fifth, Weber State sixth and Eastern Washington seventh.

Coaches Show
The Jaime White Head Coaches Show will take place at The Den at the Clarion Inn Hotel (701 8th Street) on Tuesdays from 6:00-7:00 p.m. during the months of November and December. Join Coach White and host Jason Alvine as they recap the previous week, preview the upcoming week and talk strategies with fans and players.