@UNCBearsWBB Opens WNIT against CSU Thursday

For the third time in four years, Northern Colorado women's basketball will be apart of the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). They will open up against in-state rival Colorado State on Thursday night in Fort Collins.

Game 33
Who: Colorado State 23-7, 15-3 Mountain West
When: Thursday, March 19 at 7:00 p.m. MDT
Where: Fort Collins, Colo., Moby Arena (8,745)
Series History: Colorado State 20-11, last meeting November 13, 2012 (CSU 56-43)
Game Links: Video | Audio | Live Stats
Game Notes: Northern Colorado | Colorado State | WNIT | Big Sky

Bear Facts
• This is UNC's third time going to the WNIT. The previous two trips came in 2012 and 2013, coming out with a record of 1-2.
• The Bears actually hold a WNIT record with 23 steals in 2012 when they played against Colorado.
• Northern Colorado has won five of its last six road games.
• During the Big Sky Conference Tournament D'shara Strange recorded the 1,000th rebound of her career. She is the first player in UNC history history to do so, and only the sixth player in Big Sky history
• Strange and Stephanie Lee were both named to the Big Sky All-Tournament team.
• The Bears entered the Big Sky Championship on a 10 game win streak, the longest in the programs DI history.
• D'shara Strange is 16 points away from becoming Northern Colorado's all-time leading scoring. She would pass Missy Borell (1999-2003) who scored 1,866 points.
• The Bears have a top 15 assist to turnover ratio of 1.21.
• UNC is ranked 51st in the nation for field goal percentage, shooting 43.0 percent a game.

Scouting the Rams
Colorado State earned an automatic berth to the WNIT after winning the Mountain West Conference regular season title, but falling in the first round of the conference tournament to San Jose State. The Rams have a very deep line up, with eight players averaging six plus points a game. Gritt Ryder is CSU's lone player scoring in double digits with 11.0 points a game. She also leads the team in assists (4.9) and steals (1.3) a game. The Rams have one of the top defenses in the nation allowing opponents to score only 57.1 points a game, ranking 33rd in the nation. Colorado State is led by third year coach Ryun Williams. Williams is 59-33 as the teams head coach, including leading them to back-to-back Mountain West Regular Season Championships.

New Sheriff in Town
Kamie Ethridge takes over as head coach for Northern Colorado after being an assistant at Kansas State the past 18 years. Ethridge has an accomplished career both as a coach and on the court as a player. She is the 12th head coach in the school's history. Former head coach Jamie White took the head job at Fresno State.

Against the Mountain West
UNC is 49-74 overall against Mountain West teams. The Bears went 1-1 this season playing the MWC, defeating Air Force and losing to Utah State.

On this Date
This is the first time UNC has played on March 19th.

Schedule Nuggets
The Bears faced a tough slate this season going against four teams who qualified for the NCAA Tournament last year and another five that participated in the WNIT. NCAA: North Dakota, Idaho, Florida Gulf Coast, Nebraska. WNIT: USF, South Dakota State, SMU, Montana, Southern Utah.

Record Watch
D'shara Strange is already apart of many career all-time records lists, and will be moving up them throughout the year. She is 13th all-time in blocks. Strange now sits in 5th place for assists at 317.

Strange is not the only Bear apart of the programs history books, Stephanie Lee is on a good amount of lists as well. Lee currently sits seventh in free throws made. Lee is also second in blocked shots needing 17 more to become the school's leader.

1,000 Point Club
Stephanie Lee became the 19th player in program history to join the 1,000 point club when she scored in the Bears game against South Florida this season. She currently sits 8th with 1,403 points. Lee joined current teammate D'shara Strange in the club. Strange has 1,851 which has her in second all-time. She is the fifth player in school history to reach the 1,500 point mark, and only second player ever in program history to reach the 1,600 mark. The only other player to make it, is UNC's leading scorer Missy Borell (1999-2003) with 1,866 points.

Scoring Machine
D'shara Strange become the school's all-time leader in scoring since becoming a Division I program with 1,582nd point, passing Whitley Cox who had 1, 581 from 2005-2010.

Month of March
Northern Colorado is 26-46 all-time in the month of March.

Pass the Rock
Senior point guard Lindsay Mallon now sits 6th all-time in career assists. She is currently sixth in the Big Sky averaging 4.3 assists per game. She broke the schools Division I record for assists (138) in a season previously held by Courteney Stoermer from 2010-11 with 124.

Cleaning the Glass
D'shara Strange became the first player in Northern Colorado history to grab 1,000 rebounds in her career. She currently has 1,009 rebounds. Strange is only the sixth player in Big Sky to have 1,000 rebounds.

Record Setting Year
Northern Colorado set a few team DI season records already this season. The team has scored the most points (2,135), field goals made (799), 3-point field goals made (230) and assists (513).

It was not just the team, but a couple of individuals that also broke records too. Stephanie Lee broke the scoring (552) and blocked shots (73). D'shara Strange broke the steals (97), rebounds (284) and offensive rebounds (81) mark.

Protect the Ball
Opponents should be extra careful when they have the ball with D'shara Strange nearby. Strange is UNC's all-time leader in steals with 339. Strange is just two steal shy of breaking the Big Sky record held by Montana's Liz Holz (1986-89)

From Downtown
Kyleigh Hiser and Kourteney Zadina have been feeling it from behind the arc this season hitting 69 and 55 3-pointers, respectively. That ranks second and fifth in the schools DI history.

What's on Deck?
If the Bears win against Colorado State, UNC will face either South Dakota or Creighton on anywhere from March 21-24.

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Kyleigh Hiser

Stephanie Lee

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D'shara Strange

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