@UNCBearsWBB Closes Non-Conference Play at Grand Canyon

GREELEY, Colo. -- After getting snowed out last week at home, the Northern Colorado women's basketball team will be well rested going into its last non-conference game of the year. The Bears will head south to sunny Arizona to face Grand Canyon Monday at 2:00 p.m.

For all information on the game check out GameDay Central.

Game Notes: Northern Colorado | Grand Canyon | Big Sky

The Match-Up
Northern Colorado is coming off of a 13 days break when the ball tips-off on Monday afternoon. The Bears lone game scheduled last week vs Southern Florida was cancelled due to heavy snow in the Greeley area. The Bears will be looking to end a two game losing streak.

Grand Canyon will be coming off a close 59-56 lose to South Alabama Saturday night. The game snapped GCU's three game win streak, and moved the team's record to 5-7.

Scouting the Lopes
Grand Canyon has been playing well of late winning its past three games, going into Saturday night. Before hosting the Bears on Monday, fell to South Alabama on Saturday night 59-56.

The team is led by a trio of players averaging double digit points. Cheyenne Hedrington leads the team with 12.1 points and also grabbing a team leading 7.5 rebounds a game.

Jessica Gajewski is the Lopes second leading scoring, netting 10.8 points per game. She leads the team with 23 made 3-pointers.

The final player in double figures for GCU is Courtney Hayes. She is adding in 10.4 ppg and also dishing out 5.5 assists a game.

Coming into the season Grand Canyon was picked to finish fifth by both the coaches' and media polls. The Lopes are in their fourth and final season of completing its reclassification to Division I. Starting next season all of the school's sports teams will be eligible to compete in the postseason.

Last Time Against Grand Canyon
Northern Colorado and Grand Canyon met up with each other last season in Greeley. The Bears would defeat the visiting Lopes, 66-47.

UNC rode an outstanding performance from its two All-Big Sky first team players in Stephanie Lee and D'shara Strange. Lee led the team with 32 points on 54.5 percent shooting. Meanwhile, Strange recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

GCU was paced by August Touchard's 12 points.

Do you Want to Build a Snowman?
Greeley turned into a winter wonderland last Tuesday, accumulating close to 11 inches of snow in just a few hours. The snow ended up leading to a cancelation of the team's game on the day. The Bears were supposed to take on No. 20 South Florida that night.

Against the WAC
Monday's game will be the 25th time UNC has faced a current member of the WAC. The Bears have faced six of the eight teams in the conference. Seven of the 25 match-ups have come against New Mexico State. Overall, Northern Colorado holds a 14-10 (.583) record vs. the conference.

On This Date
UNC will be competing on December 21st for the eighth time overall. Northern Colorado holds a winning record on the date, going 5-2 on it. It will only be the second time the Bears have played a true road game on the date, the only other time was in 2003, falling to Metro State 66-60.

Month of December
Northern Colorado holds a record just above .500 in the month of December going 120-115. The best the team ever did in the month was a 6-0 record during the 1994-95 season. Under Ethridge, UNC is 3-6.

Swaggy Z Heating Up
Kourteney "Swaggy Z" Zadina has been heating up as the temperatures outside continue to drop. Zadina has scored in double figures over the past four games, averaging 15.0 ppg. She has been shooting at a clip of 51.2 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from downtown.

70 is the Mark
Coach Ethridge always preaches to her team that if they score 70 points they are in a good position to win. That has held true this season with UNC scoring at least 70 points in four of its five wins. the Denver game the team scored 60 points, but still got the win.

Shooting Woes
UNC has hit a bit of a cold spell recently struggling to see the ball go through the basket. Against CSU they had a 10:50 field goal drought and over the past two games shot just 39.7 percent from the field.

From Downtown
The Bears have been feeling it from behind the arc this season averaging 9.7 made threes a game. That ranks for seventh best in the nation, but only third best in the Big Sky. Both Idaho (4th) and Sacramento State (1st) are ahead of UNC.

Stuck like Glue
After the game against South Dakota State, Kamie Ethridge called Savannah Scott, "the glue that keeps the team together." Scott has had a strong start to her sophomore season. She has stuffed the stat sheet with her play averaging 10.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals a game. Against CSU she proved to be a stat sheet stuffer once again with 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Valuing the Ball
Once again this year UNC is valuing the rock, and forcing teams into turnovers. They rank 11th in the country and first in the Big Sky with a 1.41 assist-turnover ratio. A key component to that ratio is Katie Longwell who ranks 16th in the nation with a 3.00 ratio herself.

Youth is Served
With the graduation of four key seniors from last year, youth will definitely be a big part of the team this season. So far, 50.6 percent of the team's scoring is coming from underclassmen and 43.2 percent of the rebounds.

RPI Report
As the calendar turned to December, the first RPI ratings of the year came out. UNC is ranked 177 as of 12/19, sixth best in the Big Sky. Idaho State is the highest at 38.

What's on Deck?
After a little winter break for the team, UNC will start the New Year with a new season, conference season. The Bears start Big Sky Conference play in Cheney, Wash. against Eastern Washington on December 31. They will follow that game up by making the trip to Moscow, Idaho to take on the Vandals on January 2.

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D'shara Strange

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