Comeback against South Dakota State Falls Just Short for @UNCBearsWBB

Saturday, December 5

Brookings, S.D.

3:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

5-3

South Dakota State

6-2

Northern Colorado

South Dakota State

Photo by: Rob Trubia

12/5/2015 6:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Northern Colorado women's basketball fell just short of a comeback win at South Dakota State Staurday

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

BROOKINGS, S.D. – A late run from the Northern Colorado (5-3) women's basketball team fell just short against South Dakota State Saturday evening. UNC fell to the Jacks 66-62. The loss snapped the team's three game win streak.

The Bears used a combo of stingy defense and getting hot from behind the arc to comeback after being down 59-44 with 7:49 left in the game. UNC proceeded to go on a 17-3 run over six minutes to cut the lead to one.

"This was a great opportunity for our team and great environment to put a young team in. We did a good job handling the adversity we faced," head coach Kamie Ethridge said. "The team responded the way I would like to see them to in the future, when faced with this type of adversity. Even though we lost this game I look at it as a positive and a win for us in regards to the development of our team."

The trio of Katie Longwell, Rebecca Howell and Savannah Scott scored 14 of the team's 17 points during the run. Scott and Howell each had four points during it, while Longwell's six points came on back-to-back threes that cut the SDSU lead to one. For the game Longwell made a career-high tying five 3-pointers, and led all players in the game with 17 points.

"Katie was tremendous for us tonight," Ethridge said of the guard. "You saw in her a player who has a great grasp of what we want to do on both ends of the floor and has completely bought into how we want to play and our culture we want to build for this program. I am really proud of her competitiveness and how she helped lead this team."

Longwell's 17 helped contribute to the 32 bench points from UNC with another 13 coming from fellow junior, Kourteney Zadina.

Meanwhile, Howell not only made an impact for the team scoring, but also on the boards, grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds. She finished two points shy of a double-double, and also added in three assists.

South Dakota State earned its large lead, with a strong second quarter, shooting 12-for-16 from the field to outscore UNC 31-17. Outside of that quarter, UNC held SDSU to just 11-of-42 shooting, including just 29.6 percent (8-27) in the second half.

"We lost the game in the second quarter by not scoring the basketball and really not guarding at all," said Ethridge. "I think that says a lot about the importance of Savannah Scott to this team when she got into foul trouble and had to sit out. She is the glue to this team."

Scott picked up her second foul with 2:44 on the clock in the first quarter and had to sit the rest of the half.

The Bears held the lead after the first quarter at 12-11. Kyleigh Hiser had half of the team's points through the first quarter hitting two 3-point shots. She finished the game with 11 points and three rebounds.

After closing the half out on a 10-0 run, the Jacks opened the third quarter with an 18 point lead (47-29), holding UNC scoreless for over a six minute period between the second and third quarter. The Jackrabbits held onto that lead, going into the fourth quarter up 52-39, when UNC made its run.

The Bears will now return home for two more tough non-conference games, first against Colorado State on Tuesday at 7 p.m., followed up by a game against No. 23/24 South Florida on December 15.

"To play teams line SDSU, CSU and USF, who are NCAA caliber teams is what we want to put our team into, to learn and grow," Ethridge said of this challenging three game stretch. "Playing in these tough environments helps us prepare for the Big Sky season and see what it takes to become a program like South Dakota State is."