Hot Shooting and Strong Fourth Quarter Give @UNCBearsWBB Wins

Tuesday, December 1

Greeley, Colo.

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

5-2

Utah State

2-3

Utah State

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

12/1/2015 10:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Northern Colorado used strong first half shooting and closed the game strong to earn the 74-60 win over Utah State

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo.— Hot first half shooting and a strong fourth quarter led to the third straight victory for Northern Colorado women's basketball Tuesday night.

The Bears took down Utah State 74-60 inside Bank of Colorado Arena, by making nine 3-pointers in the first half and outscored the Aggies in the fourth 26-9.

The Bears once again showed balanced scoring with three players in double figures and another three scoring more than five points.

"This team shares the basketball and knows that they are better as moving parts and not relying on one person to do it all for us," head coach Kamie Ethridge said.

Junior, Kourteney Zadina led the way for UNC with a season high 19 points including hitting three from downtown. She also added in four rebounds, a steal, a turnover and a block.

Zadina was not the only stat sheet stuffer for the Bears Tuesday night. Savannah Scott and Kianna Williams continued their strong sophomore seasons. Scott scored 12 points while grabbing three rebounds, dishing out three assists and getting two steals.

"Savannah Scott just trusts and believes it out there and makes energy plays for us," Ethridge said about her sophomore guard.

Meanwhile Williams connected on three 3-point shots on her way to an 11 point, three rebound, three assist and one steal night.

Utah State got out to an early lead in the game, but the Bears responded by the midway mark of the first quarter. The teams traded baskets, before UNC went on a quick 6-0 run at the end of the quarter behind back-to-back threes from Savannah Smith to hold a 26-20 lead.

Smith finished with eight points, two steals, two assists and two rebounds.

In the second quarter, UNC had a pair of runs to go up double figures. The first run was an 8-4 one led by Zadina's great shooting. She had all eight of the points during it with two 3-pointers, going 3-for-3 from the field.

The second run came during the final 5:50 of the half when UNC went from being up 36-29 to leading 44-31 at intermission. The Bears defense held USU scoreless for 5:15 during that stretch. Scott led the run scoring the final eight points of the half for UNC.

For the half, UNC shot 48.6 percent from the field, and 56.3 percent from beyond the arc.

In the third quarter Utah State made it a game, outscoring the Bears 20-4. UNC struggled shooting during the quarter finishing just 11.8 percent overall from the field and missing all nine of its 3-point attempts.

"Even in the third quarter we had some good looks we just missed them and relied on the three too much," Ethridge said.

While the Aggies owned the third quarter, Northern Colorado owned the fourth stanza, outscoring USU 26-9 on the way to the victory.

From the 5:43 mark until the 1:58 mark, UNC held Utah State scoreless, while scoring nine points of its own. In the fourth quarter alone, the Bears got 18 points from their bench. For the game they outscored the Aggies 32-5.

Besides Zadina's 19 off the bench, Katie Longwell and Courtney Smith added in seven and six, respectively. Longwell led all UNC players once again in assists adding in five to her season total.

As a team, UNC finished with 21 assists on the night.

"Katie Longwell coming off the bench is just so poised and passes the ball really well to the right people at the right time," Ethridge said.

Northern Colorado now hits the road for a tough challenge against South Dakota State Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. mountain time.

"South Dakota State is a very good team with big strong bodies and good experience as a team that will be a good test for us," said Ethridge. "Their physicality will be a big challenge for us."