February 10, 2005
Women's Basketball to Play Host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday
Complete Northern Colorado WBB Notes in PDF Format
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University of Northern Colorado Bears (7-13)
vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (15-5)
Game #21 l Saturday, Feb. 12, 2005 l 7 p.m. (Mountain)
Greeley, Colo. l Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion (4,500)
GAME INFORMATION
The University of Northern Colorado Bears' women's basketball team will look to extend their win streak to five straight games on Saturday when the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders come to Greeley. All tickets to the game on Saturday will be $1 as the Bears celebrate Fan Appreciation Night.
The Series: 2nd meeting. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi leads the series, 1-0. The Islanders defeated the Bears, 62-38, last season.
The Coaches: Ron Vlasin is 49-53 in his fourth season as a college coach. Vlasin won nine state championships as a prep coach in Colorado. Jodi Kest is 49-26 in her third season with the Islanders. Kest is 202-139 in 13 seasons as a college coach.
Radio: Bears' Radio Network (Flagship Station - Newstalk KFKA 1310-AM in Greeley). Scott McVay (play-by-play) will have the call. Available free online at www.uncbears.com.
Television: None
Internet: Log onto UNCBears.com for the latest information on the Bears program including live stats, rosters, bios, statistics, releases, feature stories, box scores and much, much more.
Tickets: Call 970-351-2327 for more information.
THE BEAR FACTS
ISLANDERS STARTING TO COOL
The Islanders jumped out to a 14-2 start to the season but have lost three of their last four contests. The Islanders lost matchups to Arkansas State (87-73), Houston (48-46) and at Texas A&M (88-64). The only win they have recorded since Jan. 24, came on Feb. 5 when they scored a 55-43 win over Longwood.
VLASIN NEARS MILESTONES
Head coach Ron Vlasin is nearing a pair of coaching milestones. He will be looking for his 50th career collegiate coaching victory on Saturday. As a prep coach, Vlasin notched 546 career wins. Vlasin has totaled 595 career victories as a coach.
STREAKIN'
The Bears have won four straight games for only the second time during head coach Ron Vlasin's tenure at UNC. The last time the Bears won four straight games came during the 2003-04 season when the Bears defeated Western State, Nebraska-Omaha, New York Tech and Utah State. The Bears have not had a five-game winning streak since the 1999-2000 season when UNC won seven in a row under then head coach Greg Bruce.
FOSDICK REACHES CAREER-HIGH
Sophomore guard Jena Fosdick scored a career-high 20 points in the 98-65 win over Colorado College. Fosdick made 8-of-12 shots from the field, including another career-high of four three-pointers made. Fosdick is third on the team in scoring this season at 7.1 points per game.
DILLON IS AUTOMATIC AT THE LINE
Sophomore guard Bailey Dillon has made 25 straight free throws this season to tie the school record held by Shelley Lindstrom, who set the record in the 1991-92 season. Dillon made her first free throw of the season and then missed her second free throw against Denver on Dec. 15. On the season, Dillon has made 26-of-27 from the charity stripe. Over the past two games, Dillon made 10-of-10 vs. Utah Valley State and 9-of-9 vs. IPFW.
FLAVIN FINDS FORM
Senior guard Kayla Flavin is still not 100 percent after suffering a torn ACL on Jan. 24, 2004, but she looks to be returning to her form of last season. Over the past three games, Flavin is averaging 16.0 points per game. Flavin has scored 18, 17 and 13 points in each of the Bears' last three games.
VAN ORDEN PRODUCES OFF THE BENCH
Northern Colorado freshman Kirsten Van Orden came up big off the Bears' bench again on Wednesday. Van Orden tallied four points, six rebounds and notched a career-high five steals against Colorado College.
LEANING ON LIEN
Freshman center Breanna Lien had a perfect shooting night against Colorado College and notched a career-high in doing so. Lien scored eight points on 4-of-4 shooting from the floor. She also grabbed four rebounds in only seven minutes of action.
BIG FIRST HALF PRODUCTION
Northern Colorado came into the Colorado College game averaging 58.2 points per game. However, the Bears scored 58 first-half points against the Tigers en route to a 98-65 win.
MCCARROLL SNAGS CAREER-HIGH
Junior forward Cindy McCarroll tallied a career-high 14 points in the win over Utah Valley State. McCarroll drained all seven of her free attempts in the game to help her set her own personal scoring mark. She also grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists in the Bears' victory.
FANTASTIC FORD
Redshirt sophomore center Nicole Ford put together her finest effort as a collegian on Jan. 24 when she tallied 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the Bears' 75-50 win over Adams State. Ford's previous career-high of 12 points came exactly one year prior against Fort Hays State on Jan. 24, 2004. Ford then followed that effort up on Jan. 29 with another solid effort against Utah Valley State. Against the Wolverines, Ford scored nine points and drained her first career three-pointer in only 16 minutes of action.
DILLION TIES FT MARK
Sophomore guard Bailey Dillon tied the Bears' single-game record for highest free throw percentage by making all 10 of her free throws. Dillon tied a record held by Carol Franta (12-12 - Feb. 20, 1987), Jill Fadenrecht (11-11 - Dec. 19, 2000) and Petra Olsen (10-10 - Feb. 6, 1999).
VEAL BACK IN ACTION
Freshman Dani Veal returned to action on Jan. 29 in the Bears' 75-57 win over Utah Valley State. Veal had missed 11 straight games after injuring her left hip in the first half of the Bears game at San Diego State on Dec. 4. Veal has seen action in nine games this season. She started three contests prior to her injury. Veal has scored 13 points and grabbed 24 rebounds in her limited action. Veal was also a member of the Bears' volleyball squad this past fall.
BARBOUR OUT FOR REST OF THE SEASON
Sophomore guard Heather Barbour will miss the rest of the season after having a rod inserted in her right leg. Barbour missed the second half of the 2003-04 season with a leg injury as well. Barbour played in 15 games (started eight games) this season and averaged 6.3 points per game. In 2003-04 Barbour played in 13 games (started 11 games) and averaged 11.4 points per game.
GIVING BACK
The Northern Colorado women's basketball team, along with the men's team, helped sponsor a free basketball clinic for area youngsters on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The clinic was attended by nearly 250 children in the eighth grade or younger. All of the attendees received a free ticket to a future Northern Colorado home basketball game.
LAMBRECHT THE LEADER
Sophomore guard Kendra Lambrecht is the Bears' leading scorer this season (8.6 points per game) and as of late, she has become the Bears' top offensive option. Overall this season, Lambrecht has been the Bears' top scorer in seven contests.
BOMBS AWAY
Northern Colorado has been bombing away from three-point land all season, but the Bears took it to another level against Colorado State on Jan. 2. The Bears drained 15 of 48 three-pointers attempted against the Rams before falling 69-59. The Bears were four attempts away from tying the NCAA single-game record of 52 attempts. UNC's single-game record for 3's attempted is 51.
FROM WAY DOWNTOWN
Northern Colorado has attempted 617 three-pointers for an average of 29.9 attempts per game. The Bears have made 176 three-pointers, while the opposition has drained 146. UNC has made a total of 415 FGs. Seven different Bears have drained at least 10 three-pointers this season. Kendra Lambrect leads the team with 40 three-pointers made.
HAGEN'S ALL-AROUND EFFORT
Sophomore forward Danielle Hagen put together a tremendous all-around game in the Bears' 77-48 win over IPFW on Dec. 30. Hagen tied a pair of career-highs with 13 rebounds and six assists. Hagen was also the Bears' leading scorer in the game with 11 points. Hagen leads the Bears in rebounding at 6.5 caroms per contest.
Top-notch competition
UNC will play seven games against teams that competed in postseason tournaments last season. UNC will take on Nebraska (WNIT), Drake (WNIT), Iowa State (WNIT), Colorado (NCAA), Colorado State (WNIT), UNLV (WNIT) and Maryland (NCAA) this season. Both Iowa State and UNLV reached the national semifinals of the WNIT.
WINNING WAYS
The UNC women's basketball team will look to build upon last season's 16-11 record. Last season was the Bears' first year of a four-year transition to Division I.
BEARS RADIO NETWORK
All Northern Colorado women's basketball games will be broadcast on Newstalk 1310 KFKA (1310-AM) and KSIR (1010-AM) this season. Scott McVay will handle the play-by-play duties. Gameday coverage begins 30 minutes prior to tipoff with the Bears' Pregame Show.
early signings
University of Northern Colorado Women's basketball head coach Ron Vlasin has announced the team's first two signings for next season. Alisa Christopherson of Montana and Jabrenta Hubbard of Nevada will join the Bears' roster next season. Christopherson is a 5-11 forward from Sentinel High School in Missoula, Mont. She averaged 13 points a game after returning from a foot injury early in her junior year. Even though she played in only 11 games as a junior she was named first-team all-state and was also selected to the Montana state championship all-tournament team. She led Sentinel High School to a third-place finish in the 2004 State Tournament. Hubbard, a 5-6 point guard from Green Valley High School in Henderson, Nev., averaged 19.9 points, 4.5 assists and 5 steals a game during her junior season. She was ranked the 38th best player in the country last season by NCAA FullCourt.com, and Street and Smith's 2004 ranked her as one of the top players in the West. Academically, she is a member of the National Honor Society and is currently ranked 29th of 595 students in her class with a 3.86 GPA.
BEARS ON THE MOVE TO DIVISION I
The University of Northern Colorado athletic department is in the midst of a four-year transition to NCAA Division I and the 2004 season will be year two of four. While currently an independent institution, Northern Colorado has submitted its proposal and application to join the Big Sky Conference. Membership in the Big Sky Conference will not only be financially beneficial to UNC, but will also bring Northern Colorado's highly competitive athletic programs to the Big Sky Conference for outstanding competition and sport rivalries at the Division I level. The Big Sky Conference currently sponsors 15 sports; Northern Coloradocompetes in 11 of those. Five of Northern Colorado's sports would continue to compete as independents baseball, softball, swimming, men's golf and wrestling. Currently, Football is a charter member of the Great West Football Conference.
NORTHERN COLORADO IMPRESSES BIG SKY CONFERENCE
A six-member group from the conference, headed by commissioner Doug Fullerton, fanned out across campus Wed., Feb. 2, to collect information about the school.
"I think the impression they left was really favorable - they left no stone unturned," Fullerton said before leaving.
A report based on the group's visit will be written to Fullerton and forwarded to Big Sky presidents.
"Our presidents will have that decision made no later than their meeting in May. I anticipate sometime in April," Fullerton said. "It would require a two-thirds vote, but one person could derail it if the feeling was strong enough."
Fullerton said the school would need to work on budgeting and fund-raising enough money for 60 football scholarships _ up from the current 50 _ as well as for additional scholarships for women's sports.
"We are going to demand some things if this marriage is consummated and that would mean they would have to get there within three years," Fullerton said.
BIG SKY TO CONSIDER NORTHERN COLORADO
The Big Sky Conference Presidents Council moved to take a closer look at the University of Northern Colorado for possible membership. The Big Sky site visit team will on campus on Feb. 1-2.
"We're thrilled that the Big Sky Conference has chosen to take a closer look at the University of Northern Colorado," University of Northern Colorado President Kay Norton said. "We believe they will like what they see when they come to Greeley in early January. Yet we take nothing for granted and will continue to work to enhance our viability and to show them that we would be an excellent fit with the conference."
The Presidents Council met in August and developed a set of expansion criteria and formalized an expansion process. At the time, the Presidents Council discussed adding between one and three schools or remaining at the current eight-team makeup. North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Southern Utah were the other institutions that expressed public interest in the Big Sky Conference.
"Every institution had support from the Presidents, but the Big Sky Conference Presidents were committed to building a consensus in this process,'' said Big Sky Conference Commissioner Doug Fullerton. "The University of Northern Colorado is where they reached a consensus. I sensed a strong commitment to each other by the Presidents of our member institutions."
The Presidents Council established criteria to evaluate the interested schools. The criteria included academic quality, athletic competitiveness, commitment to gender equity, commitment to student-athlete success and geography with regards to cost of travel and travel time.
A team comprised of a University President, an Athletic Director, a Faculty Representative, a Senior Women's Administrator and Commissioner Fullerton will visit the Greeley campus in early 2005. The traveling team will report to the Presidents Council during a conference call in March. A formal invitation for membership could come as early as March, sometime in April, or not at all.
Weber State University President Dr. F. Ann Millner, the Chair of the Presidents Council, chaired Monday's meeting. Six of the other seven Big Sky Presidents were in attendance. Sacramento State President Dr. Alexander Gonzalez was unable to attend because of the recent death of a respected faculty member.
The Big Sky Conference is currently made up of eight institutions over seven states - Eastern Washington University, Idaho State University, The University of Montana, Montana State University, Northern Arizona University, Portland State University, Sacramento State and Weber State University. The Big Sky Conference was established in 1963 with six charter members - Idaho, Idaho State, Gonzaga, Montana, Montana State and Weber State. This is the Big Sky's fourth year of its current membership.
The Big Sky Conference was a nine-team league for the first time in 1987 when Eastern Washington joined. It remained a nine-team league until 1992 when the University of Nevada left. The Big Sky was once again a nine-team league from 1996-2000. Boise State and Idaho left the Big Sky following the 1995-96 season. Sacramento State, Portland State and Cal State Northridge joined the league in the fall of 1996. Cal State Northridge left following the 2000-2001 campaign, leaving the Big Sky with eight institutions.
