@UNCBearsWBB Starts California Trip at Saint Mary's Friday

Friday, December 16

Moraga, Calif.

7:30 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

St. Mary's

12/14/2016 11:32:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Northern Colorado heads to California for a pair of games starting Friday at Saint Mary's

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

MORAGA, Calif. – Northern Colorado will head west to close out its non-conference season with a pair of games in California. The first of the pair will take place Friday, when the Bears battle with Saint Mary's at 7:30 pm MT.

Game Links: Gameday Central | Northern Colorado Notes | Saint Mary's Notes | Big Sky Notes

The Matchup
After making a quick stop at home, Northern Colorado hits the road again to take on Saint Mary's Friday night.

The Bears, coming off a 90-47 win over Colorado Christian Tuesday will look to close out its non-conference season strong with the game against SMC, and then on Monday at Pacific.

Saint Mary's has been off all-week preparing for UNC after falling to UC Davis on a buzzer beater 68-66 last Sunday.

Scouting the Gales
Saint Mary's has a veteran squad in 2016-17, returning four starters from last season's WNIT team. They are Stella Beck, Sydney Raggio, Devyn Galland and Carly Turner. The quartet, along with Megan McKay make the up this year's starting five.

All five players are averaging over nine points scoring for the team, including Beck (13.2), McKay (13.1) and Raggio (12.1) averaging double figures scoring.

Saint Mary's is a strong offensive team scoring 71.7 points a game and shooting 45.8 percent from the field.

The Gales also are controlling the boards with a +10.9 rebounding margin, ranking 22nd in all of women's Division I basketball.

Coming into Friday, SMC is 4-5, seeing its two-game win streak snapped on a buzzer-beater by UC Davis on Sunday.

Last Time Against Saint Mary's
A quick start by Northern Colorado was not enough for the Bears to get past Saint Mary's in a 65-52 decision.

UNC ended the first quarter up 17-16, but SMC went on a 9-0 run in the second, to take control of the game.

Kianna Williams and Kyleigh Hiser led the team with 10 points each in the defeat.

A big key in the Saint Mary's win over Northern Colorado was rebounding. The Gales hit the boards hard to earn a 52-25 advantage over the Bears.

Last Time Out
• Northern Colorado took care of business Tuesday night against Colorado Christian in a 90-47 win. The Bears shot 45.9 percent from the floor, while holding CCU to 25.5 percent. Courtney Smith had a career day scoring 22 points, with nine rebounds and four blocks in the win.

Against the WCC
• UNC is taking on its second West Coast Conference team of the year in Saint Mary's, after defeating San Diego at home in November 54-51. Overall the Bears are 8-14 overall against the conference.

On This Date
• The Bears are 4-3 all-time when playing on December 16. It has been a tale of two games though, going a perfect 4-0 when at home, but 0-3 when on the road.

Strong Opening Month
• Northern Colorado went 5-1 in the opening month of play this year, matching a program best for wins in November. UNC has won five games in November two other times, 1996 and 1998. Since head coach Kamie Ethridge took over in 2014, the Bears are 13-4 in November.

Month of December
• Northern Colorado is slightly above .500 in the month of December at 122-118. Under Ethridge UNC is 5-9.

Paint Presence
• Courtney Smith has become quite the presence in the paint for Northern Colorado. She is averaging 27.1 minutes of play, ranks second on the team in scoring with 11.9 ppg and first in rebounding, grabbing 6.7 rpg.

• She had a career game against Colorado Christian, scoring 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting along with a career-high four blocks. She also grabbed eight rebounds and had a steal in the game.

• Smith has been an efficient scorer, shooting 58.0 percent for the year, ranking her first in the Big Sky and 31st in the NCAA.

Career-High Game
• While Courtney Smith had a career game, other Bears set career-highs as well against Colorado Christian.

• Savannah Smith dished out some dimes on the night as she had eight assists.

• Abby Kain had her most complete game in a UNC uniform scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds. She went 3-for-3 from the free throw line.

Dishing It Out
• Since Kamie Ethridge took over the program in 2014, ball movement and assists have been a big part of the Bears identity. UNC has once again started to move its way to the top of the NCAA rankings in assists and assist to turnover ratio. Northern Colorado is averaging 16.9 assists a game and has an assist to turnover ratio of 1.15, ranking 39th and 43rd in the NCAA, respectively.

• Against Colorado Christian Tuesday night, UNC had a season-high 25 assists. Eight of the 11 players that played in the game recorded at least one assist and four players had four or more. The Bears also helped its assist-to-turnover ratio with just six turnovers in the game.

Charity Stripe
• Once again this year, UNC is proving you want to avoid fouling them. The team is leading the Big Sky with an 80.8 percent free throw percentage putting them 4th in the nation. Savannah Scott made her first 17 free throws this season, and overall has just missed two of her 29 attempts. She ranks 10th in the nation with a 93.1 free throw percentage.

Getting Defensive
• The Bears have turned into a tough defensive team, ranking near the top of the conference in scoring defense, defensive field goal percentage and blocks per game. The team ranks first in the Big Sky allowing just 58.7 points a game and second in field goal defense holding opponents to 35.9 percent. It is tough to get a shot off against the team as they are blocking 3.1 shots a game, the fourth most in the conference.

• Over Northern Colorado's last four games, they have not allowed their opponent score over 60 points. For the year, UNC has held its opponent below 60 points six times, and under 50 points three times.

• Against Colorado Christian the team put on a clinic at times, forcing 23 CCU turnovers, making 16 steals and holding the Cougars to 25.5 percent shooting. In the third quarter UNC kept them without a made field goal, and for the second half CCU shot just 9.1 percent.

Gaining Confidence
• Northern Colorado's freshmen have been gaining a lot of confidence recently as they have seen extended playing time. The duo of Mandy Karako and Bridget Hintz have played well over the past two games. Karako has scored 11 and 10 points in those two games. Hintz had a career-high 10 points at Air Force, and didn't fill up the stat sheet as much against CCU, but showed the size depth the team has moving forward.

Mid-Major Recognition
• Northern Colorado continues to be ranked in the Mid-Major Top 25, moving up two spots from last week to No. 14. The November 29th poll marked the first time in program history that they had been ranked in the poll.

Double the Double-Doubles
• In the past two games, a UNC player has recorded a double-double. Courtney Smith had her first career double-double with a 14 points, 10 rebounds effort against CSU. Savannah Scott scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Air Force for her second career double-double.

Centennial State Challenge
• The Bears finished its five-game Centennial State Challenge on Tuesday when they took on Colorado Christian. UNC finished those five games against other Colorado schools with a 3-2 record. They defeated CCU, Air Force and Denver, while falling to Colorado and Colorado State.

Oh So Savvy
• Savannah Smith has started off the season with a bang. Her stat line reads, 14.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.3 apg and 1.9 spg. She leads the team in points. In the team's first four games of the year she had a pair of 20 point games and has been in double figures in all but one of the team's games. She has also hit a pair of game-winning shots for the team inside the final 20 seconds of the game against San Diego and Eastern Michigan.

• Smith earned a trio of honors for her performance over the week of November 14-20. College Sports Madness named her both the Mid-Major and Big Sky Player of the Week, while the Big Sky Conference also gave her that honor.

Kiwi's Complete Game
• Junior Kianna Williams can be a match up nightmare for opposing coaches to plan for. Her versatility allows her to guard multiple positions and play both inside and outside. Last year she had one of the most statistically complete games for the Bears, averaging 6.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 steals.

• That nightmare for opponents has already started this year. She is averaging 5.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, along with 2.0 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.0 blocks. She recorded her first career double-double against Florida Gulf Coast with a 12 point, 12 rebound game.

Class of Kath
• Katie Longwell is the team's lone senior this season. So far in her senior campaign, she has been a valuable sixth man for UNC. She averages a team most 20.1 minutes off the bench. She averages 3.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists.

Swat Team
• Opponents have had trouble scoring against Courtney Smith and Kianna Williams this season as they have combined for 20 blocks. Smith has put up 11, while Williams has nine.

The Other Kiwi
• While Kianna Williams nickname is Kiwi, Northern Colorado has a true Kiwi on the team this year in Krystal Leger-Walker. The freshman guard comes to Greeley from Waikato, New Zealand. Leger-Walker brings plenty of international competition experience with her as she was on the New Zealand National Team this past summer, and competed for their 3 on 3 FIBA Championship team.

• She has started at guard for the team in all nine of their games, averaging 7.0 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.5 steals. Against UTSA she had a career-high eight assists.

Clutch City
• UNC has come up clutch when needed so far this year. In games decided by five points or less, the Bears are 4-0. All three of those games were decided by clutch baskets late in the game by Northern Colorado. Savannah Smith has two of those big shots for the team, hitting the go-ahead shot against San Diego with 17 second left on November 20, and then having a 4-point play with 7.3 seconds left to tie and take the lead on Eastern Michigan on November 27.

Riddle Me This
• Northern Colorado's usual starting lineup makes quite the riddle: We start two Savannah's, two Smith's, and two Kiwis. Can you name them?

• Answer: Savannah Smith, Savannah Scott, Courtney Smith, Kianna Williams and Krystal Leger-Walker.

Youth is Served
• Youth will be a theme for the 2016-17 UNC women's basketball team as the roster features just three upperclassmen compared to eight underclassmen. In the first five games, underclassmen accounted for 62.9 percent of the playing time.

Deep on the Bench
• Northern Colorado has a deep bench it can tap into if needed this season. Through the team's first eight games, the Bears 11 active players have seen action in at least five games this year. The team has been able to play all 11 of its players in their past two games.

U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!
• Head coach Kamie Ethridge has plenty of international experience having been on the seven different USA national teams as a player, including the 1988 Olympic Gold winning team. That's not the only international experience she has though, over the past two summers Ethridge has helped coach some of the USA's national teams. She is just one of 48 current NCAA coaches to also coach for the United States.

• This past summer, Ethridge was an assistant coach on the U18 team that went on to win gold at the FIBA Americas in Valdivia, Chile.

Clocking in Overtime
• The Bears' victory over Florida Gulf Coast marked only the third time UNC had played in a game with more than a single overtime period. Northern Colorado was previously 0-2 in those games before beating FGCU, 77-74.

UNC's Swiss Army Knife
• Savannah Scott could be better known as Northern Colorado's Swiss army knife for the way she plays. Last season she led the team in scoring (9.5 ppg), rebounding (4.9 rpg) and steals (1.83 spg), and ranked second is assists (2.7 apg).
• Her do it all ability has once again been on display this season. She is tied for second in scoring (8.5 ppg), third in rebounds (6.0 rpg) and second in assists (3.0 apg).

Freshman Four
• Northern Colorado welcomes a fearsome foursome for its freshman class this year. The group features two guards, a forward and a center in Krystal Leger-Walker, Mandy Karako, Abby Kain, and Bridget Hintz.

New Bear
• UNC inked a new Bear during the early signing period in November, bringing in Tiarna Clarke. Clarke will bring the team's number of international players on the team to two as she comes to UNC from Albany, New Zealand. She is a 5' 7" combo guard who like, Leger-Walker will bring plenty of international experience to the team.

Proving Them Wrong
• UNC will be out to prove the Big Sky Preseason poll wrong this season. Both the media and coaches poll picked the Bears to finish ninth this year. Idaho was the favorite in the coaches' poll and Montana State in the media.

Succeeding Off the Court
• UNC women's basketball team has not only been succeeding on the court, but also in the classroom. Last year seven players earned a spot on the Big Sky All-Academic team for having a cumulative GPA of over 3.2 and played in at least half of the team's games.

What's on Deck?
• The Bears close out their non-conference season on Monday as they stay in California to take on Pacific. The Bears and Tigers tip-off at 8 pm MT. UNC will then take a break for Christmas, before opening Big Sky play at home against Sacramento State on December 29.

Social Bears
• Wanting to stay up to date on all things UNC women's basketball? Make sure to follow the team on social media. We are on Facebook: /UNCBearsWBB, Twitter: @UNCBearsWBB and Instagram: UNCBearsWBB. Make sure to use the #Bearsketball as well, the official hashtag for the team.

UNC Bears Focus
• Back again this year is the UNC Focus presented by Advantage Bank. The UNC Focus is a weekly radio show. The Voice of the Bears Troy Coverdale will host it each Wednesday night on 1310 KFKA from 5pm-6pm.