University of Northern Colorado Athletics
University of Northern Colorado
11-3 (3-0)
Southern Utah
5-8 (0-2)
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Savannah Smith's Big Game Leads @UNCBearsWBB Over Southern Utah
1/5/2017 9:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Savannah Smith Scored 24 points in 23 minutes to lead UNC's women's basketball team to a 30 point victory over Southern Utah Thursday
CEDAR CITY, UTAH – Northern Colorado women's basketball passed its first road test of the Big Sky season on Thursday night, defeating Southern Utah 83-53. The win improved the Bears record to 11-3 overall and 3-0 in Big Sky play.
How It Happened
Northern Colorado opened the game in impressive fashion with an 8-0 run in the first two minutes and fifteen seconds.
The lead stayed that way as Savannah Smith helped keep the Bears up byh at least eight through most of the quarter thanks to her 10 points. SUU cut the lead in half at one point though, when Darri Frandsen and Tiarra McDonald hit a pair of threes.
UNC responded to the quick run, with a 7-0 run of its own to go up double figures, and lead by nine at the end of the first after a late basket from Southern Utah.
While it was the Savannah Smith show in the first quarter, Courtney Smith took over in the second scoring six points in it, expanding the Bears lead to 16 with three minutes to play in the half.
In the second quarter, the Bears hit a trio of 3-pointers, after not making any in the first. By the time the half hit, UNC led 44-30.
Coming out of the break, Savannah Smith once again took over the game for the Bears. She scored eight of UNC's 13 points during a 13-2 run in the third that put plenty of distance between the two teams. In the run Northern Colorado hit three from downtown, two from S. Smith and one from Savannah Scott.
The Bears held its lead to at least 20 throughout the rest of the third quarter, and led by the score of 67-46 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth, both teams struggled to score, each having scoring droughts of at least three minutes. Katie Longwell Hit back-to-back 3-pointers to end the Northern Colorado drought and build its lead to 30.
Southern Utah ended up going scoreless for five minutes and fifteen seconds, as UNC went on to earn the 83-53 victory.
Game Changer
Savannah Smith helped set the tone early, and put the game away in the third quarter with her scoring ability. The redshirt sophomore guard had 10 points in the opening 10 minutes of the game and then added another 12 in the third quarter to help propel the Bears to the win. She finished the game with a team and game-high 24 points, just one shy of her career-high in 23 minutes. Smith added in four steals and a rebound to her big scoring night.
Notable
- The 3-0 start in conference play is the best for UNC since they joined the Big Sky with the 2012-13 team.
- Northern Colorado out-rebounded SUU by 14, including grabbing 18 offensive rebounds for a 21-0 second chance point advantage.
- Nineteen Southern Utah turnovers led to 24 points for UNC.
- For the third straight game, the Bears had over 20 assists, dishing out 21 tonight. Krystal Leger-Walker led the way for the team with six.
Quotable
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge
Overall Thoughts
It was a really well-played game by our entire team. We prepared well and I am so impressed with our young team that comes on the road and plays really mature and experienced and confident. I thought we got that from everyone tonight from start to finish.
About Savannah Smith's Play
Savannah Smith was fantastic. I loved the fact that she is becoming a little more vocal and making call on the court, not always looking over at the bench. She is feeling more confident on the team, and knows her role. Anytime you have a player that can put up 24 points in 23 minutes and dictate the pace of the game sets up our team well.
Looking Ahead to Saturday
I am really happy that this is our first conference road win and that we handled the challenge well. Now we have to prepare for another tough road test on Saturday against Northern Arizona.
What's Next?
Northern Colorado will close out its road trip at Northern Arizona at 2pm on Saturday. NAU is coming off a tough 80-78 loss to North Dakota on Thursday night.
