Recap: Hot Shooting Pushes @UNCBearsWBB Past Eastern Washington

Thursday, December 28

Cheney, Wash.

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

9-3 (1-0)

Eastern Washington

5-8 (0-1)

Northern Colorado

Eastern Washington

12/28/2017 10:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Northern Colorado women's basketball shots well in second half to defeat Eastern Washington 70-65

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

CHENEY, Wash. – A strong offensive second half gave Northern Colorado a win in its Big Sky opener over Eastern Washington Thursday night 70-65. The win puts UNC to 1-0 in the conference and 9-3 overall on the season, while EWU drops to 5-8 on the year and 0-1 in the Big Sky.

The Bears big three of Savannah Scott, Savannah Smith and Courtney Smith combined for 57 of the team's points, led by Scott's 24. The Bears shot an impressive 56.0 percent from the field in the second half to earn the win.

After Eastern Washington opened the game up with a 3-pointer, the Bears went on an 11-0 run, including a trio of 3's, one each from Savannah Scott, Savannah Smith and Krystal Leger-Walker. UNC used another run of 6-0 in the quarter to lead 17-10 after the first quarter.

Five Bears scored during the opening 10 minutes.

Early in the second quarter a Scott layup and Tiarna Clark coast to coast drive put the team up by 12 points, but the Eagles chipped its way back into the game. Following Scott's third 3-pointer of the first half Northern Colorado's offense went cold over the final 3:32.

That cold spell allowed EWU to go on a 7-0 run and cut the Bears lead to 28-26 at the half.

Eastern tied the game to open the second half, but another UNC run gave the team the lead for good thanks to its seniors of Scott and Kianna Williams. The duo scored seven straight points to start a 14-3 run.

That run ended up being enough to help UNC secure the win, despite EWU pulling within four inside the final minute.

What They Said
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge

Overall thoughts on the game
"I am thrilled to be walking off the floor tonight 1-0 in Big Sky competition. To come out here and play at Eastern is tough to do and when you add in Christmas and the break it was just a gutty performance by our team to just play well enough to win a road game. We were not perfect and can learn from this game, but we still were able to improve. The most important thing was to be 1-0 at the end of the night."

About the return of Savannah Smith
"It was great to have Savannah Smith back on the court for us. She is a tremendous threat at all times when she is out there. She's shaking off a little bit of rust, but clearly, we are a better team with her on the floor. I'm still excited about how much better of a team we are because we lost her for those two game to help develop the bench."

On other key performances in the game
"Savannah Scott once again made big basket after big basket for us again, then you add in how well Kianna Williams played in the second half and it may go unnoticed, but Krystal Leger-Walker did a great job against Delaney Hodgins tonight."

Game Changer
Senior Savannah Scott led the team in both points and rebounds with 24 and six, respectively. She helped jump-start a pair of key runs for the team, including hitting four 3-pointers in the game. Scott also had three steals and two assists in the Bears win. The 24 point game is her sixth 20 plus point game of the season.

Stat to Know
Northern Colorado's defense was opportunistic on Thursday night, forcing 20 Eastern Washington turnovers, 11 via a steal. Those 20 turnovers led to 24 points off turnovers for the Bears.

Game Notes
- Savannah Smith returned to the floor for the Bears after missing the past two games with a hand injury and made a big impact. She scored 17 points including hitting a trio of shots from downtown. Eight of the 17 points came from the charity stripe. She added in five rebounds, five steals and three assists to her stat line.
- Northern Colorado recorded 18 assists in the game, led by Kianna William's six. That effort ties her career-high. Williams also had five points, five rebound and two steals.
- The win ends a three-game losing streak for the Bears against EWU.
- Courtney Smith scored nine of her 16 points in the final quarter to help the Bears to victory going a perfect 4-of-4 from the field during it. Smith also grabbed four rebounds, two assists and a steal in the game.

What's Ahead?
The Bears close out its first week of Big Sky play on Saturday, December 30 when they take on Idaho in Moscow. Tipoff between the Bears and Vandals is set for 3 pm MT. Idaho defeated North Dakota on Thursday, 80-75 to open up its Big Sky season.

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