Preview: @UNCBearsWBB Aims for 2-0 Big Sky Start Saturday

Saturday, December 30

Moscow, Idaho

3:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Idaho

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

12/29/2017 3:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball

GM13 UI

Northern Colorado women's basketball looks to improve to 2-0 in conference play when they take on Idaho in Moscow.

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – After taking down Eastern Washington to open Big Sky play on Thursday 70-65, UNC women's basketball looks to improve to 2-0 when they travel to Idaho Saturday afternoon at 3 pm MT. Both the Bears and Vandals won their Big Sky openers and will battle it out for an early lead in the conference standings.

Fans can watch the game on Pluto TV channel 241 or on WatchBigSky.com. Fans can find live stats through UNCBears.com and check the team's Twitter account for updates throughout the game at @UNCBearsWBB.

Opening Tip
• Northern Colorado opened the Big Sky season with a win over Eastern Washington 70-65.
• The Bears shot 56.0 percent in the second half against Eastern Washington to pull away from the Eagles.
• The Bears big three of Savannah Scott, Savannah Smith and Courtney Smith combined for 57 points in the win over EWU.
• Savannah Smith returned after missing a pair of games with a hand injury. She scored 17 points hitting a trio of 3's and going 8-of-12 from the line. She also grabbed five steals.
• Idaho defeated North Dakota 80-75 on Thursday to start the conference season.
• The Vandals are 5-8 on the season with its biggest win coming at Colorado State to begin the season 83-69.
• UI has the Big Sky's leading scorer in Mikayla Ferenz. She is scoring 21.4 points a game including making 3.7 3-pointers a game.
•This is the first of two meetings between the Bears and Vandals this season.

Last time out
Northern Colorado started the 2017-18 Big Sky Conference season with a 70-65 win over Eastern Washington. The Bears shot 56.0 percent from the field in the second half to pull away from the Eagles.

Scouting the Vandals
Idaho is once again a tough out in the Big Sky this season. They come into Saturday's game with a 5-7 record and 1-0 in the Big Sky. UI took down North Dakota Thursday night 70-65.

The Vandals are led by Mikayla Ferenz and her 21.4 ppg. Those 21.4 points lead the whole Big Sky. She hits 44.8 percent of her shots including 40.4 percent from behind the arc. She also pulls down 6.0 rebounds a game.

UI has two other players scoring over 10 points a game in Taylor Pierce and Geraldine McCorkell with 14.9 and 14.7 points per game.

Idaho can let the 3-pointer fly, making 9.9 a game and shooting a solid 35.0 percent from the field. While they make 9.9 3's a game, they are also giving up 8.2.

Last Time Against Idaho
The combo of Savannah and Courtney Smith combined for 46 of UNC's 71 points as the Bears defeated Idaho 71-67 in the only matchup between the two teams last year. UI who relies on making a fair amount of 3-point shots hit just six against UNC, and turned the ball over 12 times to just five from Northern Colorado.

Against the Big Sky
UNC joined the Big Sky in the 2006-07 season and has gone 107-96. Overall, the team is 119-134 against Big Sky Schools.

On This Date
The Bears are an even 5-5 when playing on December 30th. When playing on the road, UNC is 2-3 last playing on the road in 2009 at Air Force.

Scotty's Senior Leadership
Savannah Scott joined a special group of in UNC women's basketball history on December 19 when she joined the 1,000 points scored club. Scott became the 20th player in Bears basketball history to do so. She currently sits at 1,070 points for 14th all-time. The next player Scott can pass on the list is Jill Reifschneider and her 1,121 points for 13th.

It's no surprise that Scott joined the special club, as she is one of the leaders of this UNC team. Scott is currently averaging 18.7 points to lead the team, along with 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists, both third best on the team. She has scored 20 plus points six times this season

Scott earned MVP of the Roo Holiday Classic by averaging 23.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists on 66.7 percent shooting.

She earned her second Big Sky Player of the Week honor and the College Sports Madness Mid-Major and Big Sky Player of the Week award for her performances against BYU and Pacific. Scott, averaged 23.5 points, 5.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals in the two games. She shot an impressive 68.4 percent from the field including hitting five of her seven 3-point attempts and making all 16 of her free throws.

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.

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.

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. 14 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25, released on December 19th. The Bears cracked the top five earlier in the season 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.

Northern Colorado added to its list of solid wins, by knocking off BYU at home in overtime 79-74. The Cougars are a constant near the top of the Mid-Major polls every year and often in the NCAA Tournament.

Charity Stripe
The free throw line should be automatic points for a team, and that is definitely the case for Northern Colorado. The Bears are second in all of NCAA Division I with an 82.4 free throw percentage. The team has hit 164 of its 199 free throw attempts. Savannah Scott leads the team with an 88.9 percentage from the charity stripe, ranking first in the Big Sky and 20th in the NCAA.

Free throws have been a key factor in the team's wins this season. When the Bears make more free throws than its opponents they are 5-0 this season. Against 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.
Northern Colorado had another strong free throw performance against BYU going 23-of-25, including Savannah Scott's 10-for-10 performance.

Dominating the Paint
Courtney Smith is a big presences in the paint for UNC to offset the guard duo of Savannah Smith and Savannah Scott. Smith is averaging 15.2 points and 5.1 rebounds a game while leading the team in field goal percentage at 56.2 percent. Smith's shots are not just close to the basket, but she can step away from the paint and knock down plenty of jumpers too.

After facing foul trouble in the first half against UMKC, Smith scored 17 points in the second half on her way to a game-high 24 points. She shot 10-13 from the field in the game and also grabbed eight rebounds. She went on to earn All-Tournament honors by averaging 18.5 points and 5.5 rebounds on 72.7 percent shooting.

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.

Kiwi Does it all
Senior Kianna Williams does a little bit of everything for the Northern Colorado women's basketball team. She is averaging 6.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. She is leading the team with those 5.6 rebounds. 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.

With teammate Savannah Smith out against UMKC, Williams helped step up for UNC on the offensive end. She ended up finishing the game with 17 points hitting a pair of 3s and making all six of her free throws. Williams also grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists. She joined teammates Savannah Scott and Courtney Smith on the All-Tournament team for the Roo Holiday Classic.

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 45.7 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 1687 assists per game this season. That ranks first in the Big Sky and 41st in the NCAA.

Krystal Leger-Walker leads the team with 5.3 apg and a 1.83 assist-to-turnover ratio. Those numbers rank her first and fifth in the Big Sky in both categories and 49th and 123rd in the nation, respectively.

Leger-Walker put together her first career double-digit assist game against Colorado State when she had 10 of the teams 17 assists in the game. The 10 assists were two shy of the program's DI record of 12 by Courtney Stoermer.

Step into the Light
Freshman Tiarna Clarke earned her first career start against UMKC with Savannah Smith out with an injury. Clarke didn't play like a freshman seeing the extended minutes, scoring 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting including hitting a trio of 3-pointers. She also passed out a career-best six assists while playing all 40 minutes.

The Opening Month
UNC has a track record of getting out to a strong start to begin its year. The Bears are 93-73 during the month of November, including going 18-6 under head coach Kamie Ethridge. Last season, Northern Colorado went 5-1 during the 11th month of the calendar year.

UNC once again got out to a strong start this season, with a 5-2 record that included wins over DePaul, LSU and BYU.

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.

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.

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.

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 returns home for the first time since early December when they host defending Big Sky champion Montana State on Thursday, January 4 at 7 pm.