Preview: @UNCBearsWBB Prepares for Top Mid-Major Battle with Quinnipiac

Wednesday, November 22

Hamden, Conn.

11:00 am

University of Northern Colorado

Quinnipiac

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

11/21/2017 4:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Northern Colorado Notes Quinnipiac Notes

Northern Colorado women's basketball takes on another top mid-major program in Quinnipiac Wednesday.

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Colorado women's basketball is spending its Thanksgiving week on the east coast with a pair of games bookending the holiday. The first of the two games comes against another top mid-major program in Quinnipiac on Wednesday. The teams are ranked No. 5 and 6 in the College Insider Mid-Major poll, with Quinnipiac the one spot ahead of the Bears.

Tip between UNC and QU is set for 11 am MT in Hamden, Conn. Fans can watch the game on Watch ESPN along with an audio broadcast and live stats on QuinnipiacBobcats.com

Opening Tip
• Northern Colorado is now 4-0 after defeating San Francisco 73-60 on Sunday.
• UNC used balanced offense to defeat the Dons as four Bears finished in double figures scoring, led by Savannah Scott's 19 points.
• The Bears forced USF into 17 turnovers, including 11 via a steal.
• The 4-0 start is the first since the 2014-15 season. UNC is looking to go 5-0 for the first time since the 1995-96 season.
• Quinnipiac is 0-3 but faced tough competition in Iowa, Missouri and Ohio State. Missouri and Ohio State are both ranked in the Top 25.
• Quinnipiac made a run to the Sweet 16 last season upsetting Miami and Marquette.
• The trip East is the furthest UNC has traveled since 2014-15 when the Bears played at South Florida and Florida Gulf Coast.

Last Time Out
Northern Colorado closed out its first home stand of the year with a win over San Francisco 73-60. UNC had a balanced offensive game with four players in double figures scoring, led by Savannah Scott's 19 points. Joining Scott in double-digit points was Savannah Smith (18), Kianna Williams (12) and Tiarna Clarke (10). After a strong first quarter from USF, the Bears defense clamped down and the offense took off going from trailing by as much as 13 to winning the game by that margin. Kianna Williams did a little bit of everything for UNC with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.

Scouting the Bobcats
Quinnipiac is 0-3 on the season but has faced one of the most challenging schedules in basketball playing Iowa, Missouri and Ohio State. Not only have the Bobcats faced three power five teams to start the season, but all on the road. QU is looked at as one of the top mid-major programs in women's basketball this season after making a run to the NCAA Sweet 16 last season, upsetting Miami and Marquette. QU is led by MAAC Preseason Player of the Year Aryn McClure. McClure is currently second on the team in scoring with 12.0 ppg while also grabbing 2.7 rebounds a game. McClure has struggled with foul trouble this season, fouling out of the game twice. Jen Fay leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 13.3 ppg and 6.3 rpg. She is also leading the team with a 44.4 percent 3-point field goal percentage. Quinnipiac likes to let the trey fly, having shot 98 3-pointers already this season, hitting on only 29.6 percent so far. The Bobcats started the season as the No. 1 team in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25, and are ranked No. 5 as of the November 14th poll.

Against the MAAC
Northern Colorado is facing a team from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for the first time. The MAAC is an 11 team conference with member schools Quinnipiac, Rider, Fairfield, Manhattan, Monmouth, Canisius, Niagra, Saint Peter's Iona, Marist, and Siena.

On This Date
The Bears are 4-6 when playing on November 22nd, including being 1-5 when away from Bank of Colorado Arena. The last time UNC played on the date was in 2015 when they fell at home against Saint Mary's 65-52. Northern Colorado's lone win away from Greeley came in 2003 at CSU Pueblo.

Gaining National Respect
Northern Colorado's strong start to the 2017-18 season is receiving respect from around the nation. UNC earned votes for the second time in program history in the AP Top 25 this week ending up with three points in the poll. The first time the Bears earned votes in the poll came last January.

The Bears are also receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll Top 25 that was released Tuesday, November 21, ending up with a total of 25 points in it.

UNC started the season ranked No. 13 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 and moved up to No. 6 after one week, garnering one first-place vote.

Not only are the Bears earning respect from the College Insider poll, but Swish Appeal ranked UNC one of the Top 10 Mid-Major teams to watch out for in 2017-18. UNC took the No. 6 spot on the list.

Northern Colorado is ranked No. 2 in ESPN Mid-Major power rankings done by Graham Hays.

Big Time Wins
The Bears have started the season strong, with a pair of big-time wins against DePaul and LSU. The win over DePaul to open the season was not only a big win for the 2017-18 Bears, but for the program. The 94-88 victory over the No. 20/25 Blue Demons is the first in the program's DI history over a top 25 ranked team.

When UNC hosted LSU, it was the first time that the Bears played an SEC opponent. Outside of a Pac 12 team, the win was the first over a power five school.

Starting Senior Year Right
Savannah Scott has started her senior year off on the right foot. She is averaging a team-leading 21.3 points per game while grabbing 5.5 rebound and dishing out 1.0 assists. Scott has scored at least 15 points in every game. The 22.0 ppg ranks her third in the Big Sky and 35th nationally.

She led the Bears with a career-high 35 points, along with six rebounds, two steals, a block and an assist. Over her 36 minutes played, she hit nine of her 13 shot attempts including four 3-pointers. More impressive was her performance at the free throw line, going a perfect 13-for-13.

Scott continued the strong start to the season with a 16 point performance at Denver. Nine of her 16 points game in the fourth quarter when the Bears needed it the most, including a stretch of scoring six straight points to put the team up for good.

With the big first week of play, Scott earned a pair of weekly honors, being named Big Sky Player of the Week and the College Sports Madness Big Sky Player of the Week.

Dominating the Paint
Louisiana State may have had the height advantage on paper, but it was Northern Colorado's Courtney Smith who dominated the paint against the Tigers. She led all scorers with 26 points as LSU looked to slow down the UNC guards giving Smith plenty of room to do work.

On the year, Smith is averaging 15.0 points per game and tied for the second on the team with 5.5 rebounds per game with Savannah Scott.

Charity Stripe
Northern Colorado has been one of the top free throw making teams over the past two years shooting 78.2 percent from the free throw line last year and 84.3 percent so far this season. The 84.3 percent mark this year ranks eighth in the nation.

The team started right where it left off from last season and it was a key factor in the team's win over DePaul. UNC connected on 33 of its 37 free throw attempts for a percentage of 89.2. Savannah Scott hit 13 of those 33 made free throws, not missing any of her attempts.

Three-Headed Monster
The Bears' three-headed monster of Savannah Scott, Savannah Smith and Courtney Smith is off to a good start this season, averaging a combined 52.5 points per game for the team.

With the Assist
Since Kamie Ethridge took over the UNC women's basketball program in 2014, ball moment and assists have been a big part of the Bears identity. That is once again the case this year, with Northern Colorado averaging 18.0 assists per game this season. That ranks first in the Big Sky and 46th in the NCAA.

Krystal Leger-Walker leads the team with 5.5 apg and a 3.67 assist-to-turnover ratio. Those numbers rank her first in the Big Sky in both categories and 79th and 44th in the nation, respectively.

Kiwi Does It All
Senior Kianna Williams does a little bit of everything for the Northern Colorado women's basketball team. She is averaging 6.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.5 blocks per game. Williams biggest impact for the team doesn't even make it into her side of the box score but instead locking down the opponents top scorer with her versatility to guard four different positions on the court.

The Opening Month
UNC has a track record of getting out to a strong start to begin its year. The Bears are 92-72 during the month of November, including going 17-4 under head coach Kamie Ethridge. Last season, Northern Colorado went 5-1 during the 11th month of the calendar year.

High Expectations
Expectations are high inside the gym for the 2017-18 UNC women's basketball team both internally and externally. The Bears are the preseason favorites to win the Big Sky this season according to both the conference's media and coaches. Northern Colorado edged out North Dakota in both polls released earlier in October.

Bracketology
It's early in the season, but by being picked as the preseason favorites in the Big Sky UNC earned spots in a pair of Bracketologies to begin the year. According to both ESPNW and College Sports Madness coming into the year, they had the Bears as a No. 15 seed. ESPNW had the Bears traveling to Notre Dame and CSM with UNC going to Ohio State.

Preseason Honors
Redshirt junior Savannah Smith has the eye of opposing coaches coming into this season. Smith earned a spot on the Preseason All-Big Sky team. The team is voted on by the conference's coaches. Smith was a big part of the team's success last year leading the team in scoring with 15.9 points per game while averaging 3.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.0 steals. That strong performance earned her first team All-Big Sky honors.

The three ball is a big part of Smith's game, setting the program record for made 3-pointers, with 80. She averaged 2.67 a season to rank third in the Big Sky and 43rd nationally.

Familiar Faces
A big reason for the high expectations for this season's team is due to the fact so many familiar faces return to the court. The Bears return all five of its starters from last season, and 78.5 percent of all its minutes played.

To Be the Best, Play the Best
Head coach Kamie Ethridge and her staff put together a strong and challenging non-conference schedule for their team. It all starts against preseason Top-25 DePaul on November 10 in Chicago. Other highlights of the schedule include the home opener on November 13 against LSU and home dates against BYU, Nov. 30, and Colorado State, Dec. 10. UNC takes on Quinnipiac, who made it to the Sweet 16 in last season's NCAA Tournament on the road as well on Nov. 22.

Welcome Freshman
Northern Colorado welcomes a pair of athletic guards in Tiarna Clarke and Alexis Chapman. Clarke comes to UNC from New Zealand, where she was a teammate of fellow Bear Krystal Leger-Walker on the countries U17 team. Chapman caught the eye of the Bears coaching staff with her dynamic playmaking to bring her to Greeley from Garland, Texas.

Home Sweet Home
The Bears enjoyed playing on their home court last season, going 11-3 inside Bank of Colorado Arena. The strong home record included a 10-game win streak on home court. Under Coach E, UNC is 30-12 when playing in Greeley.

Feeling 22!
Northern Colorado felt 22 during the 2016-17 season tying the school's win record for a single season. The 22 wins tied with the 2014-15 team that went on to the third round of the WNIT that season.

Rewriting the Record Book
UNC's successful 2016-17 season saw a few records go down in the program's record book.
- The team set a program best for free throw percentage shooting 78.2 percent from the charity stripe. Savannah Scott broke the school's DI record individually, with a percentage of 89.7.
- The 70.70 points scored a game were a new DI program record.
- UNC passed the ball well, setting a new DI team record with 556 assists. That included a game against Sacramento State, which saw the Bears record 33 assists for the most in a single game.
- Opponent's nets were not safe from UNC's shooting from beyond the arc last season as they hit a program record by making 233 3-pointers last season. Eighty of those 223 belonged to Savannah Smith who also set the individual mark for a single-season

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 three 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.

New Bear Cubs
The Northern Colorado women's basketball program welcomed a pair of new players to its 2018 recruiting class on Nov. 8, when Grace Vaofusi and Michaela Jones signed their National Letter of Intent to join the program. Both are athletic and versatile 5'9' guards that can play a variety of positions for UNC. Vaofusi comes to UNC from Wellington, New Zealand bringing the team's Kiwi count up to three, while Jones is from Wymore, Nebraska.

UNC added in one more new Bear just before the November signing period closed out, with Micayla Isenbart signing with the team. The Stratton, Colorado native adds some size to the Bears roster coming in at 5' 11".

What's Ahead?
Northern Colorado closes out its east coast Thanksgiving trip with a game at Fordham on Friday. The Bears and Rams tip-off at 5 pm MT.

UNC will then return home for a three-game homestand beginning on November 30th when BYU comes to town at 7 pm MT.