@UNCBearsWBB Set to Host South Dakota in Second Round of WNIT

Sunday, March 22

Greeley, Colo.

5:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

South Dakota

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

3/21/2015 9:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Northern Colorado and South Dakota women's basketball set to face-off tomorrow night in the second round of the WNIT

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

After a thrilling come from behind victory over Colorado State in the first round of the WNIT, Northern Colorado hosts South Dakota in the second round Sunday.

Game 34
Who: South Dakota 26-7, 13-3 Summit League
When: Sunday, March 22 at 5:00 p.m. MT
Where: Greeley, Colo., Bank of Colorado Arena (2,955)
Series History: South Dakota 19-13, last meeting December 10, 2011 (USD 73-48)
Game Links: Video | Audio | Live Stats
Game Notes: Northern Colorado | South Dakota | WNIT

Bear Facts
• Northern Colorado's victory over Colorado State on Thursday night was their second overall. The first came in 2013 at Wyoming (71-63).
• The Bears actually hold a WNIT record with 23 steals in 2012 when they played against Colorado.
• Northern Colorado has won 11 of its past 12 games.
• D'shara Strange became the Big Sky Conferences career leader in steals (341) on Thursday, passing Montana's Liz Holz (1986-89)
• Strange also recorded her 13th double-double of the year with 14 points and 13 rebounds against CSU.
• Katie Longwell and Kourteney Zadina combined for 17 of the Bears 20 bench points.
• D'shara Strange is two points away from becoming Northern Colorado's all-time leading scoring. She would pass Missy Borell (1999-2003) who scored 1,866 points.
• Northern Colorado finished the game against CSU on a 22-7 run over the last 12 minutes.
• The Bears have a top 19 assist to turnover ratio of 1.19.
• UNC is ranked 58th in the nation for field goal percentage, shooting 42.8 percent a game.
• With a win on Sunday it would become a program best. UNC had 21 wins in 1997-98 and 2012-13.

Scouting the Coyotes
South Dakota is led by the trio of Nicole Seekamp, Raeshel Contreras, and Margaret McCloud. Seekamp and Contreras lead the team in scoring with 15.5 and 15.1 points a game, respectively. Seekamp also leads the team in assists (5.2) and steals (2.0). McCloud is the 'yotes leading rebounder (6.2) and shot blocker (0.7) while averaging 9.5 points a game. USD finished in first place in the Summit League regular season, and fell to South Dakota State in the league's championship game, earning an automatic berth to the WNIT. In the first round of the WNIT South Dakota hosted Creighton, winning 68-58 to advance to Sunday's game.

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.

Picked 4th/5th
The coaches and media spoke in October predicting the finishing order for the upcoming basketball season, pinning the Bears fourth by the coaches and fifth by the media. Defending champion North Dakota was picked first by both groups.

Against the Summit League
UNC is 75-102 against Summit League teams. The league is comprised of a few teams from the old NCC. This season UNC split games against Summit opponents this season defeating Nebraska-Omaha and losing to South Dakota State.

On this Date
This is the first time UNC has played on March 22nd.

Schedule Nuggets
The Bears face 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 322.

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 16 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 1,407 points. Lee joined current teammate D'shara Strange in the club. Strange has 1,865 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 27-46 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 4.2 assists per game. She broke the schools Division I record for assists (140) 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 1,024 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 (2,188), field goals made (814), 3-point field goals made (237) and assists (523).

It was not just the team, but a couple of individuals that also broke records too. Stephanie Lee broke the scoring (556) and blocked shots (74). D'shara Strange broke the steals (100), rebounds (297) and offensive rebounds (85) 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 341. Strange is now just the Big Sky's record helder for steals, passing Montana's Liz Holz (1986-89)

From Downtown
Kyleigh Hiser and Kourteney Zadina have been feeling it from behind the arc this season hitting 71 and 57 3-pointers, respectively. That ranks second and fourth in the schools DI history.

What's on Deck?
If the Bears win against South Dakota, UNC will face either UCLA or San Diego anywhere from March 25-27.