Preview: Finals Over, @UNCBearsWBB Hosts Colorado State Sunday

Sunday, December 10

Greeley, Colo

2pm

University of Northern Colorado

Colorado State

Photo by: Rob Trubia

12/8/2017 1:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Northern Colorado Notes

Northern Colorado women's basketball hosts in-state rival Colorado State Sunday at 2 pm.

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – Finals are over and now it's just focusing on basketball for the rest of the month for Northern Colorado women's basketball. The Bears return to the floor at Bank of Colorado Arena Sunday afternoon as they host Colorado State at 2 pm.

Tickets for the game start at $7 and are on sale now by clicking here. For those unable to make it to The Bank, can watch the game on CET, Pluto TV or WatchBigSky.com. The Bears' audio stream of the game will be on UNCBears.com along with live stats. Northern Colorado's Twitter account, @UNCBearsWBB, will also have live updates as well.

Gameday Happenings
During halftime of Sunday's game fans can give back to those in need by being a part of the Teddy Bear Toss. Fans can bring Teddy Bears to toss onto the court to donate to the Salvation Army and Boys and Girls Club. If you do not have a Teddy Bear to donate, you can purchase on for $5. All proceeds will go to the foundations.

Opening Tip
• Northern Colorado went 2-0 last week with wins over BYU, 79-74 ot, and Pacific, 80-55 to improve to 6-2 on the year.
• The Bears finish 3-0 against WCC teams this season defeating San Francisco, BYU and Pacific.
• UNC's big three of Savannah Smith, Savannah Scott and Courtney Smith combined for 55 points in the win over Pacific.
• Ball movement was key in the UNC win, as they recorded 21 assists on 30 made baskets.
• Colorado State is 5-3 on the year having dropped its most recent game on Wednesday to rival Colorado 70-67.
• The Rams defense stiffed the Buffs in the fourth quarter holding them to 10.0 percent shooting, but CU hit all six of its free throws to hold on against CSU.
• CSU has faced one other Big Sky school this year in Idaho, who they lost to 83-69.

Last Time Out
Northern Colorado started the game on a 9-0 run against Pacific and never looked back as they took down the Tigers 80-55, never trailing in the game. UNC's big three of Savannah Scott, Savannah Smith and Courtney Smith combined for 55 points for the Bears. The team shot a season-best 61.2 percent in the win.

Scouting the Rams
Colorado State is 5-3 on the year having dropped its most recent game on Wednesday to rival Colorado 70-67. The Bears and Rams share a pair of same opponents so far this season in Denver and BYU. Both teams went 2-0 against each team. CSU is facing its second Big Sky school of the season, they opened the season by hosting Idaho and falling to the Vandals 83-69.

Colorado State has one player averaging double figures scoring, in Lore Devos with 10.3 points per game, but have seven players averaging over 5.0 ppg. The Rams are averaging 65.5 points per game, shooting 42.0 percent as a team.

Defensively, CSU is holding its opponents to 59.1 points and shooting just 34.7 percent from the field. The Rams have a strong 3-point defense as well holding teams to 28.6 percent so far.

The trio of Annie Brady, Hannah Tvrdy and Veronika Mirkovic are cleaning up the boards for Colorado State, averaging 6.0, 5.9 and 5.6 rebounds per game, respectively.

Coming into the 2017-18 season, CSU who has won the past three Mountain West regular-season titles was picked to finish third in the conference this season.

Last Time Against Colorado State
UNC played strong defense against CSU to lead for the majority of the game, but a big fourth quarter allowed the Rams to earn the comeback 58-47 win. The Bears offense struggled throughout the game shooting 33.3 percent and 22.2 percent from the 3-point line. Courtney Smith had a good day inside scoring 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting.

Against the Mountain West
UNC is only facing one Mountain West school this season in Colorado State on Sunday. All-time against the league, the Bears are 51-75 with the majority of the wins coming against Air Force (21) and CSU (12). Last season, Northern Colorado split its two games against the Mountain West, falling at Colorado State and winning at Air Force.

On This Date
Northern Colorado is 3-6 when playing on December 10, but have won its past two games on the date, including last season at Air Force. The Bears are 2-0 when playing at home. One of those two games came against CSU in 1976 when the Bears defeated the Rams 87-74.

Scotty's Senior Leadership
Savannah Scott is looked upon as one of the team leaders for UNC, and for good reason both on and off the court. The senior is leading by example on the court, averaging 18.3 points per game and 5.3 rebounds to lead the team in both categories.

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 th field including hitting five of her seven 3-point attempts and making all 16 of her free throws.

Scott is approaching a couple of impressive career marks in 1,000 career points, and 500 rebounds. She enters Sunday's game with 992 points and 429 rebounds. With eight more points, Scott will become the 20th player in program history to surpass the 1,000 points mark.

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. 5 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25, released on December 5th. 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 lead all of NCAA Division I with an 85.0 free throw percentage. The team has hit 113 of its 133 free throw attempts. Savannah Scott leads the team with an 88.9 percentage from the charity stripe, ranking fourth in the Big Sky and 38th 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.

Here Comes Savvy
Opposing coaches are not enjoying this sight, but the Bears sure are as Savannah Smith has started to heat up in recent games. The redshirt junior averaged 18.5 points last week and looked to be coming out of her early season shooting slump going 5-of-9 from the field and 5-of-7 from downtown against Pacific. It's not just that Smith is making her shots, but she is making her signature deep 3-pointers that electrify the crowds inside Bank of Colorado Arena.

Smith is averaging 15.4 points per game this season, to rank second on the team, but is currently shooting 29.7 percent overall and 33.3 percent from behind the arc. As she continues to heat up look for those percentages to really increase. Even with the shooting struggles she has been finding ways to help others score with 3.4 assists and giving the team more offensive opportunities with 2.6 steals a game.

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 14.4 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game.

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 48.0 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 second in the Big Sky and 64th in the NCAA.

Krystal Leger-Walker leads the team with 4.4 apg and a 1.67 assist-to-turnover ratio. Those numbers rank her fourth and seventh in the Big Sky in both categories and 134th and 173rd 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 4.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.6 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.

What's Ahead?
UNC closes out its non-conference season on the road in Kansas City at the Roo Holiday Classic hosted by UMKC. The Bears take on host UMKC and host Liberty on December 19 and 20, respectively.