Recap: Scott, Smith Lead @UNCBearsWBB Past Liberty 65-57

Wednesday, December 20

Kansas City, Mo.

12 pm

University of Northern Colorado

8-3

Liberty

5-6

Liberty

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

12/20/2017 3:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

The duo of Savannah Scott and Courtney Smith helped lead UNC women's basketball over Liberty Wednesday afternoon 65-57

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

KANSAS CITY – Northern Colorado women's basketball closed out its non-conference portion of the schedule by putting out the Flames of Liberty in a 65-57 win at the Roo Holiday Classic. The win gives UNC the Roo Holiday Classic championship and moved its record to 8-3 on the season.

It was once again the duo of Savannah Scott and Courtney Smith that led the way for UNC as they scored a combined 39 points in the win. Following the final game of the Roo Holiday Classic, Scott was named the MVP of the tournament while Smith and Kianna WIlliams earned spots on the All-Tournament team.

Smith picked up right where she left off from Tuesday hitting her first five shots and scoring 11 of the team's first 14 points of the game.

After a fast passed first five minutes, both offenses cooled off following the media timeout. The Bears made just one shot over the final 5:22 of the quarter, a 3-pointer by Tiarna Clarke and the Lady Flames led 18-17 when the first 10 minutes ended.

Liberty increased its lead to seven early on in the second quarter going on a 6-0 run, but Savannah Scott caught fire and put the Bears on her back. The senior guard scored 12 points over the final six minutes of the half and led a 15-2 Northern Colorado run. LU closed the half strong though with a quick four points and cut the UNC lead to 39-36 heading to the break.

It was slow going offensively following the break as both teams struggled to make a shot early on. After the teams combined for eight points over the first seven and a half minutes, it was once again Scott that sparked a UNC run. She hit a three and then made a layup to put the Bears up eight and they never looked back after that.

Northern Colorado ended up outscoring Liberty in the third 14-6 including closing the third and opening the fourth quarter on a 15-2 run.

Outside of a late 8-0 when the game was in hand, led by at least 10 throughout the whole fourth quarter and as much as 16.

What They Said
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge

Overall thoughts on week and Savannah Scott's play
"We are really pleased with this team and where we are at going home 8-3 and having won these two games the way we had to win them. Savannah Scott was by far the best player on the court for us these past two days and just showed her toughness and leadership. To come back from a sickness and feel the way she did and come out and play how she did shows the type of competitor, teammate, and player that she is."

On Courtney Smith's strong game
"Courtney Smith had two great games for us as well here. We have her shooting the ball at a high percentage rate like she was last year. She is locked in and confident right now. When I look at her knowing we didn't have Savannah Smith, she knew she had to perform at a really high level and did just that."

How she feels about team heading into Big Sky play
"You never want anyone to get injured on your team and when Savannah Smith went down I just didn't know how this team would respond. I feel great in the direction of this team. Tiarna Clarke played 78 of a possible 80 minutes and did a great job for us. We have great depth after seeing Abby and Bridgit come in and give us a different look at the five position and Alexa played well in her minutes off the bench. It really gives me good confidence about our bench and when Savannah Smith comes back and we are full strength it just adds to that confidence. It's great to be 8-3 right now, we really go back to 0-0 now as conference play starts and we face two tough road games to start it."

Game Changer
Following a slow start, Savannah Scott caught fire in the second quarter with 12 points including hitting a trio of 3-pointers. She also sparked the game-deciding 15-2 run over the third and fourth quarter with another 3 and a layup that put the game away for the Bears. Scott finished the game with 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting including connecting on four 3-pointers. She also had four rebounds, three assists and two steals in the win.

Stat to Know
Basketball is all about putting the ball through the hoop. For UNC they did so efficiently on Wednesday shooting 49.0 percent compared to 37.3 percent by Liberty. In the second half, Northern Colorado's defense really clamped down holding the Lady Flames to 31.8 percent shooting, and outside of a late 8-0 run when the game was out of reach, Liberty scored just 13 points in the second half.

Game Notes
- Courtney Smith started the game fast and finished it with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Smith was not only a force on the offensive end but defensively as well as she matched a career-high with five blocks. She had three assists and rebounds on her stat line too.
- Sophomore guard Krystal Leger-Walker has been dropping dimes recently as she had her third straight game with at least five assists on Wednesday. Leger-Walker led the Bears with seven to go with her five points and five rebounds. As a team, UNC ended up with 17 assists in the game on 24 made shots.
- Offensive rebounds helped keep Liberty in the game against UNC as the Lady Flames outrebounded the Bears 35-29 overall, including 17 offensive rebounds. Those 17 extra chances gave LU 12 second-chance points.
- Wednesday's game against Liberty was the first in program history against them and first against a school from the Big South.
- It is the second straight season UNC has gone 8-3 in non-conference play, tying the team's best non-conference mark in the four years under Coach Ethridge.

All Tournament Team
MVP - Savannah Scott, Northern Colorado
Claire Gritt, Denver
Courtney Smith, Northern Colorado
Kianna Williams, Northern Colorado
Samantha Waldron, UMKC
Keyen Green, Liberty

What's Ahead?
It's on to Big Sky Conference season now for Northern Colorado. The Bears open conference play in the Pacific Northwest when they face Eastern Washington on December 28 at 7 pm MT.

The Bears do not return home until the New Year when Montana State comes to Bank of Colorado Arena on January 4 at 7 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased now at UNCBears.com/Tickets.

To stay up to date with all things UNC women's basketball, visit UNCBears.com and follow them on Twitter at @UNCBearsWBB.