University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Tuesday, December 13
Greeley, Colo.
7:00 pm
University of Northern Colorado
90
vs
47
Colorado Christian
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
PG
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's Basketball
G/PG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballPhoto by: Dean Popejoy
Courtney Smith's Career Game Leads @UNCBearsWBB Past Colorado Christian
12/13/2016 10:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball
UNC defeated Colorado Christian 90-47 behind the 22 point effort of Courtney Smith
GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Colorado women's basketball team closed out its home portion of the non-conference season in style, defeating Colorado Christian 90-47.
How It Happened
Colorado Christian scored the first basket of the game, but then it became all UNC after that. The Bears went on 9-0 run to go up 9-2, thanks to the junior combo of Kianna Williams and Savannah Scott.
Northern Colorado then went on another 9-0 run to go up by double figures a little past the midway point of the quarter. A run of 11-0 that extended through the end of the first quarter and into the beginning of the second would grow the lead to 20.
Both teams settled in and started to trade baskets throughout the rest of the second half, until CCU ended half on an 8-3 run to cut UNC lead to 43-29.
Coming out of the break, Northern Colorado took off and never looked back, opening the half on a 14-0 run. Courtney Smith had nine of those 14 points during the run as the Bears took a 28 point lead.
In the third quarter, UNC outscored CCU 29-5, holding the Cougars without a field goal. By the end of the third UNC was up 72-34, and cruised home to the final of 90-47 in the fourth quarter.
Game Changer
Courtney Smith was unstoppable for stretches of the game Tuesday night, scoring a career-high 22 points. Fourteen of her 22 points came inside the paint, and she also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds on the night. It wasn't just her offense that came up big for the Bears, but defense too as she had a career-high four blocks and added in a steal. She shot an effective 62.5 percent on the night (10-16).
Notable
- By holding Colorado Christian to no field goals in the third quarter, the Bears are the only team to do accomplish that this year in the Big Sky.
- Many career records fell on Tuesday night including:
- Abby Kain scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds
- Savannah Smith's eight assists.
- Kirsten Kramer with four assists
- The team set a season-high in assists and steals for the game with 25 assists and 16 steals.
- Northern Colorado turned the ball over just six times in the game, making it the third fewest turnovers in the team's DI history.
- UNC outshot CCU 45.9 percent to 25.5. In the second half, Colorado Christian was held to just 9.1 percent shooting.
- UNC hit 12-of-13 free throws, helping improving its team season percentage to 80.8 percent.
- Northern Colorado took advantage of the 23 Colorado Christian turnovers, scoring 44 points off them.
Quotable
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge
Overall Thoughts on game:
"This is a game where you never know how it's going to be. A year ago they beat us, but this is a very different team, they have had injuries recently and a couple key players not with them. For us it is a game that we needed to see what we have done in the past few days of practice and see how we have improved in our zone offense. I thought we made real progress in that and looked great in the first quarter. Our bench didn't play as well in the second quarter and lost some rhythm from our bench, but we addressed that at half and cleaned it up."
On Courtney Smith
"She is a player with a tremendous amount of pride. We had an outside person scout our team a few weeks ago and she was told she was not a physical player. Ever since then I feel like she has scored more in the paint. She has had great consistency and growth as a player from last year for us."
Sophomore Center Courtney Smith
About tonight's performance:
"I played well tonight, but I actually would have preferred to have more rebounds than all of the points."
On improved play this year:
"This year more than last year I have become more comfortable. I just come into each game knowing we need to get a win no matter who the opponent is."
What's Next?
The Bears will hit the road to close out non-conference play. They will play a pair of games in California, starting on Friday when they take on Saint Mary's at 7:30 pm MT. The next home game for UNC will be on December 29 when they host Sacramento State for the Big Sky Conference Opener at 7 pm.
How It Happened
Colorado Christian scored the first basket of the game, but then it became all UNC after that. The Bears went on 9-0 run to go up 9-2, thanks to the junior combo of Kianna Williams and Savannah Scott.
Northern Colorado then went on another 9-0 run to go up by double figures a little past the midway point of the quarter. A run of 11-0 that extended through the end of the first quarter and into the beginning of the second would grow the lead to 20.
Both teams settled in and started to trade baskets throughout the rest of the second half, until CCU ended half on an 8-3 run to cut UNC lead to 43-29.
Coming out of the break, Northern Colorado took off and never looked back, opening the half on a 14-0 run. Courtney Smith had nine of those 14 points during the run as the Bears took a 28 point lead.
In the third quarter, UNC outscored CCU 29-5, holding the Cougars without a field goal. By the end of the third UNC was up 72-34, and cruised home to the final of 90-47 in the fourth quarter.
Game Changer
Courtney Smith was unstoppable for stretches of the game Tuesday night, scoring a career-high 22 points. Fourteen of her 22 points came inside the paint, and she also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds on the night. It wasn't just her offense that came up big for the Bears, but defense too as she had a career-high four blocks and added in a steal. She shot an effective 62.5 percent on the night (10-16).
Notable
- By holding Colorado Christian to no field goals in the third quarter, the Bears are the only team to do accomplish that this year in the Big Sky.
- Many career records fell on Tuesday night including:
- Abby Kain scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds
- Savannah Smith's eight assists.
- Kirsten Kramer with four assists
- The team set a season-high in assists and steals for the game with 25 assists and 16 steals.
- Northern Colorado turned the ball over just six times in the game, making it the third fewest turnovers in the team's DI history.
- UNC outshot CCU 45.9 percent to 25.5. In the second half, Colorado Christian was held to just 9.1 percent shooting.
- UNC hit 12-of-13 free throws, helping improving its team season percentage to 80.8 percent.
- Northern Colorado took advantage of the 23 Colorado Christian turnovers, scoring 44 points off them.
Quotable
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge
Overall Thoughts on game:
"This is a game where you never know how it's going to be. A year ago they beat us, but this is a very different team, they have had injuries recently and a couple key players not with them. For us it is a game that we needed to see what we have done in the past few days of practice and see how we have improved in our zone offense. I thought we made real progress in that and looked great in the first quarter. Our bench didn't play as well in the second quarter and lost some rhythm from our bench, but we addressed that at half and cleaned it up."
On Courtney Smith
"She is a player with a tremendous amount of pride. We had an outside person scout our team a few weeks ago and she was told she was not a physical player. Ever since then I feel like she has scored more in the paint. She has had great consistency and growth as a player from last year for us."
Sophomore Center Courtney Smith
About tonight's performance:
"I played well tonight, but I actually would have preferred to have more rebounds than all of the points."
On improved play this year:
"This year more than last year I have become more comfortable. I just come into each game knowing we need to get a win no matter who the opponent is."
What's Next?
The Bears will hit the road to close out non-conference play. They will play a pair of games in California, starting on Friday when they take on Saint Mary's at 7:30 pm MT. The next home game for UNC will be on December 29 when they host Sacramento State for the Big Sky Conference Opener at 7 pm.
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