@UNCBearsWBB Earn Hard Fought Road Win

Saturday, February 6

Pocatello, Idaho

2:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

10-11, 5-6BSC

Idaho State

10-11, 3-7BSC

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Northern Colorado	24	14	10	13	61
Idaho State	10	17	20	12	59

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

2/6/2016 5:31:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

UNC women's basketball earns its first Big Sky road win of season

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

POCOTELLO, Idaho – Northern Colorado women's basketball team earned its first Big Sky Conference road win of the season and snapped an eight-game road losing streak, defeating Idaho State 61-59 Saturday afternoon.

Katie Longwell's floater from Kianna Williams in the paint with 24 seconds left would be the deciding bucket, putting the Bears up 60-59.

"The difference between today and Thursday night is the confidence and calmness we possessed today," head coach Kamie Ethridge said after the win. "We played arguably our best offensive game of the season and executed to perfection getting great looks. I am unbelievably happy for the team in getting the win and for the way they kept their composure and attitude up even during the losing streak."

UNC's (10-11, 5-6 Big Sky) defense held strong as Idaho State (10-11, 3-7 Big Sky) missed a lay-up, but got the offensive rebound with four seconds left, but Rebecca Howell was there to force the jump ball with the possession arrow in favor of UNC. Savannah Scott would subsequently be fouled and hit one of her two free throws to reach the final of 61-59 with ISU unable to get off a last second shot.

Both Howell and Longwell played key parts throughout the game in the team's win. Longwell got things started for Northern Colorado with perfect shooting in the first quarter going 4-for-4 including hitting three 3-pointers. She ended the half with those 11 points and the game with 15.

"Katie was unbelievable for us tonight and probably the reason why we got off to such a good start hitting her open shots," Ethridge said of the junior guard. "She took the shots with confidence even though they had not been falling for her recently."

Howell also shot well in the game finishing 6-of-7 from the field for 14 points. Ten of those 14 points came in the first half. Her 14 point performance comes after she had a career-high 18 on Thursday night at Weber State.

"Rebecca had a very good first quarter for us as well, making shots and taking advantage of the way ISU was guarding her," said Ethridge. "Both she and Katie are starters for us for the reasons they showed today, having good experience to start us off well and playing to their full potential."

UNC shot lights out in the first two quarters, shooting 75.0 percent in the first to build a 24-10 lead and was shooting 65.0 percent by halftime with a 38-27 lead.

Howell and Longwell were not the only two Bears to play well for the team, the Savannah duo of Scott and Smith combined for 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Idaho State wouldn't back down easy though, outscoring the Bears 20-10 in third quarter to pull within one at the end of it, 48-47.

The Bengals took their first lead since the beginning of the game early on in the fourth quarter and built its lead up to four by the six minute mark. UNC would come back though to tie the game with 4:16 left.

"Idaho State adjusted to us and slowed us down in the second half. It ended up coming down to us making a stop at the end of the game and we were able to do it and pick up the win," Ethridge said. "We played a really tough fourth quarter and got some big plays at key times and made the stops we needed to."

The two teams proceeded to trade the lead with each other five times from that point on.

Northern Colorado now returns home for a couple weeks, starting on Thursday night, Feb.11 at 7:00 p.m. when they host Idaho. The Vandals (17-6, 9-2 Big Sky) are coming off a 2-0 weekend, defeating both Southern Utah and Northern Arizona at home.

"It is a tremendous team win for us, getting some good minutes from our bench and being able to keep minutes down after playing the long game on Thursday. Today was another stepping stone for this team and now we are looking forward to coming home," Ethridge said following the win. "We are looking forward to being back in front of our home crowd again and hoping to see everyone come out to the game as we will need the support."