University of Northern Colorado Athletics
University of Northern Colorado
4-1
UTSA
1-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Colorado | 22 | 7 | 23 | 21 | 73 |
| UTSA | 10 | 14 | 27 | 15 | 66 |
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Savannah Scott Leads the Way for High Powered @UNCBearsWBB Offense
11/25/2016 6:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Savannah Scott scored a career-high 26 points against UTSA in a 73-66 win Friday
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Savannah Scott led a high powered offensive attack for Northern Colorado's women's basketball team Friday evening as they defeated UTSA 73-66. Scott finished with a career-high 25 points in the victory, while key defensive stops preserved the win for the Bears, and extended the team's win streak to four.
How It Happened
Northern Colorado's offense started the game with hot shooting, led by Savannah Scott. She reached double figures in the first quarter, with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including a pair of threes.
It wasn't just Scott who did all the work offensively for the Bears, as the whole team shot 60% in the opening 10 minutes. UNC used a 6-0 and 9-0 run in the quarter to build the 22-10 lead.
Krystal Leger-Walker hit her second three of the game to open the second quarter and grew the Bears' lead to 15. After that though, the quarter became all UTSA.
A five minute scoring drought for UNC led to a 10-0 run for the Roadrunners. Savannah Smith hit a jumper to end the drought. Even after the basket, UNC was unable to get going, hitting only one more basket in the half to hold onto a 29-24 lead at the break.
After the poor shooting in the second quarter, UNC got back on track in the third. The team hit five of its first six shots, to build the lead back up to six. During that time Leger-Walker had four points.
Texas native, Mandy Karako sparked a quick 7-0 run by the Bears with a three and layup, sandwiched by a Scott layup to push the Northern Colorado lead to 11 with 3:50 left in the quarter.
The Roadrunners did back down easily though, going on a 7-0 and 9-2 run to end the quarter. UTSA was within one at the end of it after a Loyrn Goodwin buzzer beater.
Goodwin proceeded to make the opening bucket of the fourth quarter to give UTSA its first lead of the game. It didn't last long though, as Courtney Smith hit a shot in the paint, and Scott hit her third 3-pointer of the game to place the Bears back up by four.
The teams spent the middle part of the fourth quarter, trading baskets as UNC never led by more than six. The Roadrunners cut the lead to two after a pair of Tesha Smith baskets with 2:30 left in the game.
With just outside of a minute remaining, C. Smith made a layup to put the Bears back up four, and the defense took over from there.
In the final minute of play, UNC had a key offensive rebound by Kianna Williams after a missed free throw and forced a pair of Roadrunner turnovers. Northern Colorado went on to hit 5-of-8 free throws during that time and seal the 73-66 victory.
Game Changer
She started hot and was tough to stop all day as Savannah Scott finished the game with a career-high 26 points. Scott had 12 points in the first quarter alone and shot 69.2 percent from the field, including making three 3-pointers. She also made five of the six free throws she took Friday evening. On top of the 26 points Scott had four rebounds, an assist and steal.
Notable
- Freshman guard Krystal Leger-Walker had herself a night as well, finishing with 11 points, eight assists, two rebounds and a steal. The eight assists tie her for ninth in a single game since the program became DI.
- Northern Colorado finished the night with four players in double figures scoring. Scott and Leger-Walker were joined by teammates Courtney and Savannah Smith with 12 and 15, respectively.
- Despite shooting just 23.1 percent in the second quarter, UNC ended the game with a 49.2 shooting percentage.
-Savannah Smith continues a strong start to the 2016-17 season adding a career-high nine rebounds, two assists and three steals to her 15 points scored in the game.
- Head coach Kamie Ethridge improved to 3-0 when playing in her home state of Texas.
Quotable
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge
Overall Thoughts on Game
"Tonight's game was our most complete game we played so far. There were fewer lapses of not being able to score and we were able to score better. I loved the fact that we had four players in double figures. That kind of balance is what we need to do to become better and improve our game. I was really impressed by the way were able to preserver in this game. Savannah Scott had probably the best quarter for us so far this season, but then we lost some momentum, but were able to hold off a very athletic team was great for our team."
On Savannah Scott's Play
"Savannah Scott was tremendous for us as everyone knows she is and will be for us. She was able to break out of a little bit of a slump to start the season, and did what we see every day at practice. She just made shots and made plays for us and a times when we needed a basket or rebound. I am really thrilled for her and think this will give her confidence moving forward."
Northern Colorado will close out the UTSA Thanksgiving Classic on Sunday when they face Eastern Michigan. The Eagles opened the weekend with a 62-50 loss to Tulane. Tip-off is set for 11 am Mountain Time.
