@UNCBearsWBB Returns Home Against Northern Arizona Thursday

Thursday, January 26

Greeley, Colo.

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Northern Arizona

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1/24/2017 5:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Northern Colorado women's basketball returns to Bank of Colorado Arena with an 8-0 Big Sky record to face Northern Arizona

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – After a successful 2-0 road trip last week, Northern Colorado's women's basketball team returns home for a three-game homestand starting on Thursday night. The Bears are a perfect 8-0 in Big Sky play and taking on Northern Arizona at 7 pm.

Gameday Happenings
Northern Colorado Athletics will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day with a clinic featuring all of the departments women's sports team starting at 5 pm inside the Campus Recreation Center. All girls 5-13 are encouraged to come to the free clinic, and they will receive a free game ticket to the basketball game following. Registration is open now by clicking here.

Fans who buy single game full-price tickets on Thursday will be able to buy discounted tickets for Saturday's game. With the discount, adult tickets will cost $5 and kids $3.

Game Links: Gameday Central | Northern Colorado Notes | Northern Arizona | Big Sky

The Matchup
Thursday night's matchup features the battle of the Big Sky's Northerns, in Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona

Northern Colorado has been on a hot streak, winning its first eight Big Sky games of the year, to hold a one game lead over 7-1 North Dakota.

NAU comes into the week with a 2-5 Big Sky record after splitting last week's games at home winning over Eastern Washington and falling to Idaho.

Scouting the Lumberjacks
Since facing the Bears two weeks ago in Flagstaff, Northern Arizona has gone 1-3. The lone win came last Thursday against Eastern Washington 56-47.

NAU has a trio of players averaging double figures in Olivia Lucero (13.7 ppg), Rene Coggins (11.4) and Brittani Lusain (10.3). Lusani also leads the team in rebounds, grabbing 8.3 boards per game. Meanwhile, Coggins is the team's leader in assists averaging 3.2 per game.

Since Big Sky play began at the end of December, five different 'Jacks are scoring in double figures to give them a more balanced offense.

Enter the week, NAU is 2-5 in conference play to be tied for ninth with Weber State.

Expectations were set low this year for Northern Arizona who was picked to finish 11th by the coaches and 12th by the media in the preseason.

Last Time Against Northern Arizona
A 7-0 run in the fourth quarter helped Northern Colorado earn a comeback 69-66 victory over Northern Arizona Saturday afternoon.

The trio of Savannah Scott, Savannah Smith and Courtney Smith came up big for UNC as they combined for 46 points, 13 rebounds and 10 steals for the team.

Northern Colorado earned its second win of the year when entering the fourth quarter trailing.

Last Time Out
• Northern Colorado closed out its road trip with a strong performance in an 88-79 win over Weber State. The duo of Savannah and Courtney Smith combined for 47 points, shooting 73.9 percent. For the game, UNC shot 61.1 percent.

Against the Big Sky
• UNC joined the Big Sky in the 2006-07 season and have gone 100-91 since then. All-time against Big Sky schools, the Bears are 112-129.

On This Date
• The Bears are 4-8 when playing on January 26th, but all four of those wins have come at home. The team is 4-2 when playing in Greeley, including winning the most recent time in 2013 over Sacramento State by the score of 79-63.

Month of January
• Northern Colorado will look to stay above the .500 mark all-time in the month of January this season. The team is 182-180 in the month. Under head coach Kamie Ethridge, the team is 14-10.

Off on the Right Foot
• UNC is off to its best start in conference play in program history. The 8-0 record topped the previous best of 7-0 by the 1997-98 team in the NCC.

• Through 19 games played, the team is tied for the best record by a UNC team in program history. The 16-3 mark is equal to what the 1997-98 team did.

Oh So Savvy
• Savannah Smith has had a strong season for the team, with her stat line reading, 15.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.8 apg and 1.9 spg. She leads the team in scoring.

• Smith had a huge weekend at Idaho State and Weber State, averaging 26.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals. Against ISU she scored a career-high 29 points, making six 3-pointers to tie a program DI record. She followed it up with another big shooting game against Weber State scoring 23 points including a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.

• 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 17 of the team's 19 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.

Home Swwwwwwwweet Home
• Since dropping its first game of the season inside Bank of Colorado Arena, the Bears have won eight straight. That ties for the seventh longest streak in program history. The longest is 16 that expanded the 1996-97 season into the 1997-98.

Streaks Part II
• For the second time this season, UNC is on a winning streak that expands five games or more. The Bears went on a five-game win streak during the non-conference season, and are currently on a nine-game streak. That is the seventh longest in Northern Colorado history.

Scorching the Nets
• Both Idaho State and Weber State will have to put new nets in after the Bears came through town last week. UNC shot an outstanding 55.1 percent in the two games, including going 54.8 percent from downtown.

• Against Idaho State, Northern Colorado hit a season-high 14 3-pointers. It was two off the program's DI record and four off the overall.

• The basket looked twice as big for the Bears at Weber State, where the team shot 61.1 percent. Courtney Smith led that charge for the team hitting 11 of her 12 attempts.

Getting Defensive
• The Bears have turned into a tough defensive team, ranking near the top of the conference in scoring defense and defensive field goal percentage. The team ranks first in the Big Sky allowing just 61.7 points a game and third in field goal defense holding opponents to 37.5 percent.

• Against the Montana schools, the team forced 49 turnovers. Against MSU, the Bears ended up forcing the Bobcats into 28 turnovers, 11 via steals. It was the seventh time this season UNC forced its opponent into 20 or more turnovers.

• Northern Colorado's defense shut down SUU in the second half on January 5th. The T-Birds were held to 14.3 percent shooting in the half, making just four baskets. In the fourth quarter UNC kept SUU to just seven points. For the game Southern Utah shot just 29.4 percent.

• During a three game stretch against Colorado Christian, Saint Mary's, and Pacific, UNC has forced a combine 68 turnovers. Twenty three of those game against CCU, 22 against SMC, and 23 more at Pacific. Of those 68, 36 of them have come via steals.

• For the year, UNC has held its opponent below 60 points nine times, and under 50 points four 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.

Feed the Beast
• Courtney Smith has become quite the presence in the paint for Northern Colorado. She is averaging 26.2 minutes of play, ranks third on the team in scoring with 12.7 ppg and first in rebounding, grabbing 5.9 rpg.

• She put on a shooting clinic at Weber State when she went 11-for-12 from the field on her way to a career-high 24 points.

• Smith recorded her second career double-double against Sacramento State, when she had 23 points and tied her career-high with 10 rebounds. She was almost perfect shooting on the night, going 10-of-11 from the field and 3-of-3 from the free throw line.

• 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. That performance helped her be named the College Sports Madness Big Sky Player of the Week.

• Smith has been an efficient scorer, shooting 59.5 percent for the year, ranking her first in the Big Sky and 17th in the NCAA.

Three Headed Monster
• Northern Colorado possesses a three headed monster that is tough to stop from scoring. The trio of Savannah Smith, Savannah Scott and Courtney Smith are all ranked in the Top 20 in the Big Sky in scoring. Smith leads the way with 15.2 points while Scott and Courtney Smith are not far behind with 14.2 and 12.0.

Big Sky Offense
• Since Big Sky play began in the last week of 2016, UNC has put one of the best offenses on the court. The team is averaging 79.2 points per game to rank second in the conference, along with being second in field goal percentage at 47.1 and first in 3-point FG percentage at 40.9. Ball movement has been a big part of the success averaging 22.1 assists per game, and leading the Big Sky with a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio.

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. She is averaging 6.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, along with 2.4 assists, 2.3 steals and 0.6 blocks.

• Against Montana State, Williams had a strong game with 10 rebounds, eight points and three steals, but it was not in the box score that made the big impact. Her defense on one of the best players in the Big Sky was key in the win. She held Montana State's Peyton Ferris to just 14 points after she was averaging 28.0 points per game in the past three.

•Williams recorded her first career double-double against Florida Gulf Coast with a 12 point, 12 rebound game. Williams also had a career-high six steals against Saint Mary's.

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 18.9 assists a game and has an assist to turnover ratio of 1.27, ranking seventh and 20nd in the NCAA, respectively. Both marks rank first in the Big Sky

• Since Big Sky play began, the Bears are averaging 22.1 assists per game. That's almost five more a game than the nearest team.

• In the game against Sacramento State on December 29, the Bears set a program DI record for assists in a game with 33. A third of those assists came from Savannah Scott, who had a career-high 11. Scott and the Bears followed that performance up with another 28 assists against Portland State, with Scott dished out another 11 of them.

• Against Colorado Christian on December 13, 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.

Swiss Army Knife
• Need a job done? Better call Savannah Scott to get it done. She is Northern Colorado's version of a Swiss Army Knife. Whether the team needs scoring, rebounding, good ball movement or good defense, she can do it all. Coming into this week's games she is second on the team in scoring (14.1 ppg), rebounds (5.4 rpg) and assists (3.8 apg) and minutes played at 30.1.

• She earned her second Big Sky Player of the Week honor for her strong play during the first week of conference season. Scott averaged a double-double with 17.0 points and 11.0 rebounds, along with 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals. She had a career-high 11 assists in both games.

• Savannah Scott enjoyed her trip back to Northern California scoring a career-high 27 points at Saint Mary's and another 22 points against Pacific. In those games, she also averaged 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists a game to lead the team.

• She also added a 12 point, four assist and four rebound game against Colorado Christian to help her earn Big Sky Player of the Week Honors. It was the first time in Scott's career that she earned the award.

Bracketology
• It looks like the Bears would be heading to the Pacific Northwest according to both ESPNW and College Sports Madness Bracketology. In ESPNW's Northern Colorado is set as a No. 15 seed heading to Seattle to play Washington. In the CSM one, UNC will play a different Pac 12 school in Oregon State, as a No. 14 seed.

Mid-Major Recognition
• Northern Colorado continued the upward movement in the Mid-Major Top 25 poll, coming in at No. 11 this week. The November 29th poll marked the first time in program history that they had been ranked in the poll. The poll is released every Tuesday afternoon by College Insider.

Charity Stripe
• Once again this year, UNC is proving you want to avoid fouling them. The team is leading the Big Sky with an 78.3 percent free throw percentage putting them 12th in the nation. Savannah Scott made her first 17 free throws this season, and ranks 37th in the nation with an 86.1 free throw percentage.

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 20.7 minutes off the bench. She averages 4.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists.

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 of their games, averaging 5.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.5 steals. Against Montana she matched her career-high eight assists that she previously had against UTSA.

Resilient Group
This year's team has been a resilient group. Each time after losing this year they've come back and won their next game. In those games following a loss, the Bears have won by an average margin of 17 points.

#RoadToReno
• The #RoadToReno begins on Thursday, December 29th in the Big Sky. Once again this year all 12 teams will compete in the Big Sky Conference Tournament in Reno, Nevada. This year's tournament will take place from March 6-11, and be in conjunction with the men's tournament during March 7-11. All of the men's and women's games will be played inside the Reno Event Center. Tickets are available now at UNCBears.com.

Strong Non-Conference Play
•Northern Colorado got out to its best start in non-conference play since the 2011-12 season. That year the team also won eight games during the non-conference season. Going into Big Sky Play, UNC has the most wins of any other team in the conference.

Party Like it's 1998
• Savage Garden was atop the Billboard Top 100, Titanic was sweeping across the nation and the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers were preparing to play in Super Bowl XXXII the last time a Northern Colorado basketball team posted back-to-back 90 point games. That was until the week of December 26-January 2 when the Bears scored 95 against Sacramento State and 91 against Portland State. For the week the team shot 50.0 percent, hitting 17 3-pointers.

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.

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.

Clutch City
• UNC has come up clutch throughout the year. In games decided by five points or less, the Bears are 5-0. Savannah Smith has two of the game-winning 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.

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. Underclassmen have accounted for 61.4 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 eight games this year.

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.

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 welcome Southern Utah to town on Saturday afternoon. UNC and SUU played in Cedar City earlier this season when Northern Colorado won 83-53.

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.