Young @UNCBearsWBB Team Falls At Montana Thursday Night

Thursday, January 14

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

7-8, 2-3BSC

Montana

11-5, 4-1BSC

Northern Colorado

Montana

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

1/14/2016 11:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

A young Northern Colorado women's basketball team showed a good spark in a loss at Montana

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

MISSOULA, Mont. – In a game of runs Thursday night, Northern Colorado women's basketball team was unable to string together enough to earn the victory at Montana. The Bears (7-8, 2-4 Big Sky) fell to the Griz (11-5, 4-1 Big Sky) 58-46 inside Dahlberg Arena.

The game featured just one tie, but 10 lead changes as the teams battled back and forth throughout most of the game.

"Overall I think the game was just a typical game you expect when playing against Montana at their place. They are just a big physical team and they make you pay for any of your mistakes," head coach Kamie Ethridge said. "We played better in the second half, but could not get the key basket or rebound at the right time to put ourselves in a better position to win the game."

For the night UNC was led by the upperclassman duo of Kourteney Zadina and Rebecca Howell. Zadina led the team with 12 points to go with four rebounds and two assists. Howell was the only other Bear to finish in double figures adding in 10 of her own and grabbing three rebounds.

In the first quarter both teams were looking to find a rhythm scoring a combined 19 points and no team led by more than four points. UM held a slim, 10-9 advantage when the horn sounded to end the stanza.

The second quarter started the game of runs with Montana getting the first one. After trailing by two early in the quarter they proceeded to hold Northern Colorado scoreless for a 4:09 time period to go up 20-16 with 3:21 left in the half.

By the time the teams went to their locker rooms for halftime, Montana held a 28-18 lead.

"Their ability on the defensively end to switch screens and stay with us, affected us at times, definitely in the first half," Ethridge said.

UNC shot just 36.4 percent in the first half, but regrouped to shoot 40.9 percent in the second.

Coming out of the break UM extended its lead to 14 by the 6:20 mark of the third quarter, before UNC went on its own run.

The Bears rode a 10-2 streak over a 4:30 time frame led by Savannah Scott's four points. Scott ended the night with nine points and five rebounds, one off the team lead, along with four assists.

Kianna Williams led UNC on the boards with six.

With a run in the middle of the third quarter Northern Colorado trailed the Griz 42-35 going into the final quarter of play.

Unfortunately for the Bears, things turned against them quickly as UM scored eight of the first 10 points in the quarter to extend its lead to 15 and never look back. Half of the points for Montana came from McCalle Feller who finished second in scoring for the game with 15 points. Teammate Kayleigh Valley continued her scoring tear through the Big Sky with 20 points.

Montana played out the final six minutes of the game with a 13 to 15 point buffer.

"I continue to be excited about this team and the effort they show every time out on the court. I don't think we are near where we can be if we just get a little bit better play out of such a young team," Ethridge said of her team following the game. "The exciting thing for us now is we get to do this all again in two days and play a very talented and good Montana State team. Their offense will provide us some trouble and we will have to find a way to slow them down."

The Bears will look to pick up a road split when they head to Montana State on Saturday. The Bobcats, stayed undefeated in Big Sky play Thursday night defeating North Dakota 69-61.