First Road Test, @UNCBearsWBB Faces Southern Utah Thursday

Thursday, January 5

Cedar City, Utah

6:30 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Southern Utah

1/3/2017 3:07:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Northern Colorado women's basketball hits the road for the first time in Big Sky play when they take on Southern Utah Thursday

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

CEDAR CITY, Utah – After beginning the Big Sky season with a pair of wins at home last week UNC will hit the road. The Bears go to Cedar City, Utah to face Southern Utah at 7 pm MT on Thursday.

Game Links: Gameday Central | Northern Colorado Notes | Southern Utah | Big Sky

The Matchup
It will be the first of two meetings this year between the Bears and Thunderbirds, on Thursday in Cedar City. The teams will play again in Greeley on February 28.

UNC started out Big Sky play with a bang defeating both Sacramento State and Portland State, dropping 90 points in both games.

SUU is coming off a home loss to Northern Arizona in overtime to start conference play 77-68.

Scouting the Thunderbirds
Southern Utah has been a team of streaks this year, opening the season on a three-game win streak, before then going on a six game loosing streak. Until last Saturday SUU had put together a two-game win streak.

The Thunderbirds fell to Northern Arizona to begin the Big Sky season in overtime 77-68. In the game forward Jessica Richardson had a double-double for SUU with 23 points and 13 rebounds.

Richardson and teammate Jamie Smith provide a strong inside out combo for SUU. They are scoring 11.0 and 11.1 points a game this year. Richardson is also second on the team with 6.8 rebounds per game.

Darri Frandsen leads the team with 8.1 rebounds, while Rebecca Cardenas leads the team in assists at 4.1.

Southern Utah was picked to finish 11th by the media and 12th by the coaches this season.

Last Time Against Southern Utah
Northern Colorado took advantage of 21 Southern Utah turnovers and strong play from both Savannah Smith and Savannah Scott to defeat SUU 64-44.

Smith scored at the time a career-high 20 points and grabbed six rebounds, while Scott stuffed the stat sheet. She had 10 points, eight rebounds, six steals and four assists.

The Bears held the Thunderbirds to just 28.6 percent shooting in the game.

Last Time Out
• Northern Colorado continued the strong offensive output with a 91-62 win over Portland State last Saturday to begin Big Sky play 2-0. Savannah Scott led the way for UNC with a 20 point effort and had another 11 assists. The Bears used a 20-1 run to begin the second half to put away the Vikings.

Against the Big Sky
• UNC joined the Big Sky in the 2006-07 season and have gone 94-91 since then. All-time against Big Sky schools, the Bears are 106-129.

On This Date
• January 5th has been a good day for Northern Colorado, as they have posted a 10-3 record. Nine of those wins have come in Greeley, where they are undefeated. When playing on the road UNC is 1-1. Coming into this year the Bears have a three-game win streak.

Month of January
• Northern Colorado will look to get above the .500 mark all-time in the month of January this season. The team is 176-180 in the month. Under head coach Kamie Ethridge, the team is 8-10.

Big Sky Road Openers
• UNC is just 3-7 in Big Sky road openers. Last year the team fell to Eastern Washington 59-55. The last win in a Big Sky road opener came in 2014 when the team defeated Portland State 68-54.

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. Going into Thursday's game she is first on the team in scoring and assists (14.3 ppg & 3.8 apg) and second in rebounds (6.5 rpg).

• She earned her second Big Sky Player of the Week honor for her strong play last week. 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.

Feed the Beast
• Courtney Smith has become quite the presence in the paint for Northern Colorado. She is averaging 25.6 minutes of play, ranks third on the team in scoring with 12.7 ppg and first in rebounding, grabbing 6.5 rpg.

• Smith recorded her second career double-double against Sacramento State, when she had a career-high 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 60.2 percent for the year, ranking her first in the Big Sky and 16th 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. Scott leads the way with 14.3 points while the Smiths are not far behind with Savannah scoring 14.0 and Courtney 12.7.

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 last week 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.

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 18.7 assists a game and has an assist to turnover ratio of 1.23, ranking 11th and 28th in the NCAA, respectively. Both marks rank first in the Big Sky

• 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.

Charity Stripe
• Once again this year, UNC is proving you want to avoid fouling them. The team is leading the Big Sky with an 80.3 percent free throw percentage putting them 4th in the nation. Savannah Scott made her first 17 free throws this season, and ranks 31st in the nation with an 88.2 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 third in the Big Sky allowing just 62.2 points a game and second in field goal defense holding opponents to 37.8 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 seven 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.

Bracketology
•The strong play to begin the season has earned UNC some national respect, including by ESPNW's Bracketology. They currently have the Bears as a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament, heading to South Bend, Indiana to take on Notre Dame in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.

Mid-Major Recognition
• Northern Colorado continues to be ranked in the Mid-Major Top 25, coming in at No. 18 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.

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.

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.

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.

Oh So Savvy
• Savannah Smith had a strong non-conference season for the team. Her stat line reads, 14.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.0 apg and 1.8 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 nine of the team's 11 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 6.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, along with 2.7 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.8 blocks.

•She 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.

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 20.8 minutes off the bench. She averages 5.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.8 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 5.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals. Against UTSA she had a career-high eight assists.

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 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. Underclassmen have accounted for 60.7 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 four 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.

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.

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 head further south to take on Northern Arizona at 2 pm on Saturday. NAU faces North Dakota on Thursday night at home.

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.