Preview: @UNCBearsWBB Returns Home, Hosts BYU Thursday

Thursday, November 30

Greeley, Colo

7pm

University of Northern Colorado

BYU

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

11/29/2017 10:11:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Northern Colorado Notes BYU Notes

Northern Colorado women's basketball returns home on Thursday to host BYU

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Colorado women's basketball returns home Thursday night, hosting the BYU Cougars inside Bank of Colorado Arena at 7 pm.

The Bears look to snap a two-game skid, after its trip to the east coast for Thanksgiving. BYU is looking to get back in the win column as well having dropped its most recent contest to Georgia.

Thursday night's game against BYU will be broadcast on CET, fans can also stream the game on Pluto TV or WatchBigSky.com. Listen to the game through the audio stream and look for live stats on UNCBears.com. In-game updates will also come from the team's Twitter account at @UNCBearsWBB.

Opening Tip
• Northern Colorado is looking to end its two-game skid after falling to Quinnipiac and Fordham last week.
• Thursday night's game features a pair of teams receiving attention in the Mid-Major Top 25. UNC is ranked No. 5, while BYU is in the receiving votes section.
• The Bears start a three-game home stand on Thursday, that runs through December 10.
• UNC looks to improve offensively after struggling on its east coast trip, averaging just 41.0 points over the two games on 29.8 percent shooting, including just 16.3 percent on 3-pointers.
• BYU enters Thursday night's game against Northern Colorado with a 3-2 record after falling to Georgia at home 79-63 last Saturday.
• Two of the Cougars three wins have come against Big Sky schools in Southern Utah (75-67 ot) and Eastern Washington (73-69).

Last Time Out
Northern Colorado struggled to find the bottom of the basket against Fordham, and the offensive woes hurt the team in a 48-33 loss to the Rams. The Bears cut Fordham's lead to 21-18 at the half but then went on to score just 15 points in the second half, making just five baskets and four free throws in it. UNC shot 25.5 percent in the loss.

Scouting the Cougars
BYU enters Thursday night's game against Northern Colorado with a 3-2 record after falling to Georgia at home 79-63 last Saturday.

Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee leads BYU in scoring averaging 20.8 points per game to rank 38th in the NCAA overall. Through the first five games of the year, she is making 41.9 percent of her shots, including 39.4 percent of her 3-pointers. Teammates Brenna Chase and Malia Nawahine join Broadhead Devashrayee in double figures scoring with 14.0 and 12.0 ppg.

Shalae Salmon provides big presences inside for Brigham Young, averaging 10.8 rebounds and 1.80 blocks. Fellow big, Sara Hamson leads the team in blocks with 2.50 per game, to help the Cougars rank 22nd in the NCAA for blocks per game at 6.6.

BYU was picked to finish second in the WCC this preseason, finishing just one point behind Gonzaga.

Last Time Against BYU
This is the first time in 38 years that Northern Colorado and Brigham Young have squared off on the hardwood. The last game came in 1979 in Provo with BYU winning 98-49.

Against the WCC
Northern Colorado has played against seven different teams from the West Coast Conference over its history, going 9-14 in those games. Last season UNC played against three WCC schools going 2-1. Thursday's contest is the second of the season against a WCC, UNC defeated San Francisco earlier this 73-60 in Greeley.

On This Date
When playing on the last day of November Northern Colorado is 4-8 overall. The Bears are looking to snap a three-game losing streak on the date, last playing in 2014 at Nebraska. When at home, UNC is 2-2 on the date.

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 November 20th AP Top 25 ending up with three points in the poll. The first time the Bears earned votes in the poll came last January.

The Bears also received 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 currently stands at No. 5 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25, released on November 28th. The Bears cracked the top five a week ago when they were ranked No. 3, the highest the program has ever reached in the poll.

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 16.5 points per game while grabbing 5.8 rebound and dishing out 1.5 assists.

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 14.5 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game.

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 82.8 percent so far this season. The 82.8 percent mark this year ranks third 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 45.33 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 16.0 assists per game this season. That ranks first in the Big Sky and 75th in the NCAA.

Krystal Leger-Walker leads the team with 4.3 apg and a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. Those numbers rank her first in the Big Sky in both categories and 147th and 69th 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 4.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.8 steals and0.8 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 92-73 during the month of November, including going 17-6 under head coach Kamie Ethridge. Last season, Northern Colorado went 5-1 during the 11th month of the calendar year.

UNC is out to another strong start this season, winning its first four games of November, and currently at 4-2 for the month.

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 32-12 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.

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 continues its homestand on Sunday, December 3 when another WCC opponent comes to town in Pacific. The Bears and Tigers tip-off at 2 pm MT.

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