Recap: @UNCBearsWBB Overcome Adversity to Defeat UMKC 88-73

Tuesday, December 19

Kansas City, Mo.

12 pm

University of Northern Colorado

7-3

University of Missouri - Kansas City

2-9

Northern Colorado

UMKC

12/19/2017 3:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

UNC women's basketball overcame its fair share of adversity in the win over UMKC 88-73

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

KANSAS CITY – Northern Colorado ended its nine-day hiatus from the court on Tuesday afternoon and took down host Missouri-Kansas City in game one of the Roo's Holiday Classic 88-73. The win improved UNC's record to 7-2 but did not come easily as the Bears faced its fair share of challenges with Savannah Smith out with an injury, Savannah Scott battling the flu bug and Courtney Smith in foul trouble during the first half.

Despite all of the challenges, Scott ended the game with 21 points, not missing a shot. While Courtney Smith scored 17 points in the second half to finish with a game-high 24 points.

Both UNC and UMKC's offenses were firing on all cylinders during the first half as they shot 68.2 and 53.6 percent, respectively.

The Roos went on an 8-0 run early in the first quart to build a six-point lead over the Bears as they struggled with turnovers early on. At the 4:53 mark of the quarter, the already short-handed Bears saw starting center Courtney Smith pick up her second foul and sit for the remainder of the half. When she left, she had 7 points on 3-for-3 from the field including a 3-pointer.

Bridget Hintz replaced Smith on the court, and picked up two fouls of her own in under two minutes and had to join Smith on the bench as well. Despite the foul trouble for UNC's bigs, the team's offense didn't skip a beat as they went on a 10-2 run to close out the quarter and lead 24-19.

Northern Colorado's offense shot well in the first quarter with an 81.8 percent mark. Courtney Smith and Kianna Willams led UNC with seven points each, while Savannah Scott scored six points in the first quarter.

UNC showed its depth with the foul trouble as Abby Kain scored five points in the second quarter and helped the team keep its lead between three to eight points through the majority of the period. Despite a three-minute scoring drought during the quarter, the Roos closed the half strong with a 4-0 run and cut Northern Colorado's lead to 44-41 heading to the break.

The return of Courtney Smith proved to be big for UNC. After the teams traded baskets to begin the quarter, Smith went on to score seven straight points for the Bears to spark a 9-2 run and build the team's advantage to nine.

Missouri-Kansas City never gave in though, responding to the Bears run with one of its own in the form of 7-2 to cut the Bears led to four, which is what it would be at heading to the final quarter of play. Smith scored nine of the team's 18 points during the third.

In the fourth quarter, fouls ended up coming back to hurt the Roos as they put UNC into the bonus with just under five minutes remaining in the game. The Bears, an 84.3 percent free throw shooting team, took advantage of that aggressiveness from UMKC.

Williams connected on four free throws as part of a key 6-0 run that separated the Bears from the Roos, building an eight-point lead. Those key free throws, plus another from Smith and a runner in the lane from Krystal Leger-Walker put away UMKC as the Bears went on to the 88-73 victory.

What They Said
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge

Overall statement
"I couldn't be more proud of our entire team's effort and commitment to do whatever it took to help us win this game. I believe this game will be one we look back on and say we grew more as a team and truly became a better team because of this adversity we are facing."

About playing without Savannah Smith and the performance of Tiarna Clarke
"It was a great team win today. We had a few days to get ready for this game know that Savannah Smith's injury would keep her out of these two games.
Thankfully we had the break to get Tiarna Clarke ready to play a lot of minutes and change our rotation a little bit.It was an awesome performance by Tiarna to playing all 40 minutes. It was a win for her and a game I hope springboards her confidence going into conference play."

How today's game will help the team moving forward
"Not having Savanah Smith for our team is a big loss, but it is good for us to learn how to play without her on the floor. It's good for us, in the long run, to take pressure off of her and we asked the entire team to be a little more assertive when it comes to scoring."

On Courtney Smith's performance
"Courtney Smith had a terrific game and she just had the look about her today that she was going to be great for us. She did a good job of coming back in the second half after picking up the early fouls and regrouping to dominate the second half."

On the importance of Savannah Scott
"The key to this game was Savannah Scott. She was unbelievably good after starting to battle a flu bug over the past two days and felt better today wanting to give it a go. She just continues to be our rock and best player and efficient player on the court. I don't know what we would have done without her and Savannah Smith today."

Game Changer
With the third of the big three out on Tuesday afternoon, Savannah Scott and Courtney Smith combined for 45 points shooting 85.0 percent, grabbing 12 boards and dishing out five assists. The duo faced their own challenges themselves as Scott took on the flu bug and Smith playing just five minutes in the first half due to foul trouble.

Stat to Know
Against Colorado State, Northern Colorado struggled to close out the game and it cost them. The Bears learned their lesson and ended up having the big fourth quarter on Tuesday. UNC scored 26 points in the final 10 minutes going 7-of-8 from the field and 11-of-13 from the free throw line.

Game Notes
- For the first time this year, UNC trotted out a different starting lineup as Tiarna Clarke took the spot of an injured Savannah Smith. It was the first career start for Clarke. She ended up having a strong game finishing with a career-high 11 points and six assists while playing all 40 minutes.
- With her first basket of the game on Tuesday, Savannah Scott became the 20th member of the 1,000 point club in UNC history. She finished the game with 21 points on 7-of-7 shooting including a 3-pointer and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Scott also added in five assists, four rebounds and a steal.
- Senior Kianna Williams had a big game for Northern Colorado finishing with 17 points and six rebounds, Williams went a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line.
- After recording 10 assists against Colorado State last time out, Krystal Leger-Walker had another strong day with eight assists to go with five points, three rebounds and two seals.
- UNC outshot UMKC 61.2 percent to 50.0 percent. The Bears also outrebounded the Roos 25-23.

What's Ahead?
UNC finishes its non-conference season and the Roo Holiday Classic as they take on Liberty in a neutral site game on Wednesday at 12 pm. Following that the team is off until December 28 when they open Big Sky play at Eastern Washington.

Northern Colorado's next home game is on January 4 against defending Big Sky Champion Montana State at 7 pm.