Women's Basketball Falls at Home

Saturday, December 6

Greeley, Colo.

2:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

5-2

South Dakota State

8-2

Team	1	2	F
SDSU	31	40	71
UNCO	20	28	48

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

12/6/2014 5:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

South Dakota State gave Northern Colorado their first home loss of the season Saturday afternoon 71-48

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY — Northern Colorado's women basketball team could not overcome a cold streak Saturday afternoon, falling 71-48 to South Dakota State (8-2).

UNC (5-2) missed its first nine shots of the ball game, allowing SDSU to get out to a 14-point lead it would never relinquish. Kyleigh Hiser (Laramie, Wyo.) made the Bears first basket at the 12:16 mark of the half. Hiser finished the game with nine points, three rebounds an assist and a steal.

Kourteney Zadina (Seward, Neb.) was the only Bear to finish in double-digits, scoring 11 points. She went 4-of-9 from the field, and three of her four baskets were from 3-point range.

Stephanie Lee (Casper, Wyo.) was the Bears' leader on the glass finishing with six rebounds, four on the defensive side and two more on offense.

South Dakota State outshot UNC on the afternoon 42.1 percent to 32.1 percent.

"South Dakota State was a strong, physical team and took advantages of the mismatches," UNC head coach Kamie Ethridge said. "That helped lead to easy shots for them today."

After getting their first bucket of the game, the Bears were able to cut the Jackrabbits' lead to eight at 16-8. The teams played within that range the remainder of the half, with SDSU scoring the final four points, going into the locker rooms with a 31-20 advantage.

In the second half, South Dakota State opened play with an 8-2 run and another 8-0 run over a four-minute span to put the game away.

"We will go back and watch the tape from this game and evaluate our play to see where we can improve," Ethridge said. "If we are able to really grow and learn from this game, it could be a really good spring board for us the rest of the year."

Northern Colorado will conclude its three-game home stand at 7 p.m. next Wednesday against Grand Canyon University at Bank of Colorado Arena.