@UNCBearsWBB Returns Home Facing Weber State Thursday

Thursday, February 16

Greeley, Colo.

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Weber State

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2/14/2017 11:17:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Northern Colorado women's basketball starts its final homestand of the season against Weber State Thursday

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY – The Northern Colorado women's basketball team returns home Thursday night looking to get back to its winning ways when they host Weber State. The Bears and Wildcats are set to tip-off at 7 pm MT. The game marks the beginning of the final homestand of the season for UNC.

Game Links: Gameday Central | Northern Colorado Notes | Weber State | Big Sky

The Matchup
The meeting marks the second between Northern Colorado and Weber State this year, after UNC won at WSU 88-79 in January.

The Bears are looking to get back to their winning ways after dropping two of their last three games. Meanwhile, WSU comes into the game with a four-game win streak.

UNC is tied atop the Big Sky with North Dakota and Montana State at 11-2, while Weber State is in seventh place.

Scouting the Wildcats
Weber State enters Thursday's game with plenty of confidence as they bring a four-game win streak with them. The win streak has helped WSU move into seventh place in the Big Sky with a 6-6 record.

The Wildcats possess a 1-2 punch in Emily Drake and Deeshyra Thomas who are averaging 14.1 and 13.4 points per game. They also have two other players scoring over nine points a game in Yarden Danan (9.7) and Kailie Quinn (9.1).

An issue for Weber State this season has been stopping its opponents from scoring, they are allowing 68.7 points a game, ranking seventh in the conference and their opponents are shooting 43.1 percent against them.

One way they make up for that issue, is with the press they deploy leading to a +3.7 turnover margin. WSU turns its opponents over 18.3 times a game, 8.8 of those coming by steals.

Last Time Against Weber State
Northern Colorado's offense was tough to stop the last time these two teams met up shooting 61.1 percent in game.

The duo of Courtney and Savannah Smith led the way for the team with 24 and 23 points, respectively. Courtney missed just one of her 12 field goal attempts. While the other Smith hit four shots from beyond the arc and sank all seven of her free throw attempts.

With the strong offense, UNC led by double figures through most of the game, as WSU only cut it to single digits late in the 88-79 decision.

Last Time Out
• Timely threes from Delany Hodgins in the fourth quarter helped lead Eastern Washington over Northern Colorado 67-61. The Bears got out to a slow start, but recovered to trail by one after the first quarter and battled back and forth with the Eagles until the late fourth. Savannah Scott had a solid game for UNC, scoring 22 points and missing just one shot from the field.

Against the Big Sky
• UNC joined the Big Sky in the 2006-07 season and have gone 103-93 since then. All-time against Big Sky schools, the Bears are 115-131.

On This Date
• It has been an even 7-7 split for Northern Colorado when playing on February 16. The team has a 3-4 record when at home on day, but have won its last two games when playing in Greeley. The last time UNC played on the 16th was in 2013 at Sacramento State, ending in an 81-73 win.

Month of February
• UNC has struggled at times when playing in February, holding a 150-169 all-time record. Recently they have performed well during the month though, going 7-1 during it in both the 2012-13 and 2014-15 season.

Off on the Right Foot
• UNC got out to its best start in conference play in program history this season. The 10-0 record to begin Big Sky play topped the previous best of 7-0 by the 1997-98 team in the NCC.

• Through 24 games played, the team is tied best record in program history with the 1997-98 team who also was 19-5 at this point.

Swiss Army Knife
• Need a job done? Better call Savannah Scott to get it done. She is Northern Colorado's version of a Swiss Army Knife. Whether the team needs scoring, rebounding, good ball movement or good defense, she can do it all. Coming into this week's games she is tied for second on the team in scoring (13.6 ppg), second in rebounds (5.5 rpg) and assists (3.4 apg) and first in minutes played at 31.0.

• Scott had an outstanding performance at Eastern Washington, doing all she could to try and help the Bears get the win. She had a team leading 22 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including hitting five 3-pointers. She also grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists in her 38 minutes of play.

• She earned her second Big Sky Player of the Week honor for her strong play during the first week of conference season. Scott averaged a double-double with 17.0 points and 11.0 rebounds, along with 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals. She had a career-high 11 assists in both games.

• Savannah Scott enjoyed her trip back to Northern California scoring a career-high 27 points at Saint Mary's and another 22 points against Pacific. In those games, she also averaged 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists a game to lead the team.

• She also added a 12 point, four assist and four rebound game against Colorado Christian to help her earn Big Sky Player of the Week Honors. It was the first time in Scott's career that she earned the award.

Resilient Group
• This year's team has been a resilient group. Each time after losing this year they've come back and won their next game. In those games following a loss, the Bears have won by an average margin of 13.8 points.

20 Win Season
• The Bears are on the verge of their sixth 20 win season in program history. With a win on Thursday they will join the five previous teams to achieve that feat. The last team to record at least 20 wins, was the 2014-15 team with a program record 22. It would be the second team under head coach Kamie Ethridge to win 20 games.

Feed the Beast
• Courtney Smith has become quite the presence in the paint for Northern Colorado. She is averaging 26.2 minutes of play, ranks tied for second on the team in scoring with 13.6 ppg and first in rebounding, grabbing 5.8 rpg.

• In Big Sky play, Smith is averaging 14.8 points per game. In the 13 games played she has scored 20 or more points three times and in double figures 10 of the 13 games.

• She had a strong performance last week, averaging 20.0 points for the Bears while also grabbing 6.0 rebounds. Against Idaho she set a career-high in steals with three an then followed it up with a career-high five blocks at Eastern Washington.

• Smith had a two game stretch recently when she shot 23-for-27 (85.2%) and averaged 26.0 points. She scored a career-high 28 points last Thursday night against NAU, with 16 of those points coming in the third quarter.

• Smith recorded her second career double-double against Sacramento State, when she had 23 points and tied her career-high with 10 rebounds. She was almost perfect shooting on the night, going 10-of-11 from the field and 3-of-3 from the free throw line.

• She had a career game against Colorado Christian, scoring 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting along with a career-high four blocks. She also grabbed eight rebounds and had a steal in the game. That performance helped her be named the College Sports Madness Big Sky Player of the Week.

• Smith has been an efficient scorer, shooting 59.4 percent for the year, ranking her first in the Big Sky and 15th in the NCAA.

Oh So Savvy
• Savannah Smith has had a strong season for the team, with her stat line reading, 16.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.7 apg and 1.8 spg. She leads the team in scoring.

• Smith had a six-game (1/19-2/9) streak of scoring at least 20 points, averaging 23.3 points in that span, hitting 4.7 3-pointers a game during that span. Against Idaho State, she hit six treys to tie the school's DI record for made threes, and tied that mark against Southern Utah with another six.

• In the team's first four games of the year she had a pair of 20 point games and has been in double figures in 18 of the team's 20 games. She has also hit a pair of game-winning shots for the team inside the final 20 seconds of the game against San Diego and Eastern Michigan.

• Smith earned a trio of honors for her performance over the week of November 14-20. College Sports Madness named her both the Mid-Major and Big Sky Player of the Week, while the Big Sky Conference also gave her that honor. She earned the CSM Big Sky Player of the Week honor again for her performance over January 23-29.

Dishing It Out
• Since Kamie Ethridge took over the program in 2014, ball movement and assists have been a big part of the Bears identity. UNC has once again started to move its way to the top of the NCAA rankings in assists and assist to turnover ratio. Northern Colorado is averaging 18.3 assists a game and has an assist to turnover ratio of 1.24, ranking ninth and 19th in the NCAA, respectively. Both marks rank first in the Big Sky

• The team had an unprecedented game against Eastern Washington, recording an assist on all 24 of the team's made shots. Of the eight Bears who saw playing time in the game, seven of them recorded an assist, led by the six from Krystal Leger-Walker. For the season, UNC has recorded 20 or more assists in a game eight times this season.

• In the game against Sacramento State on December 29, the Bears set a program DI record for assists in a game with 33. A third of those assists came from Savannah Scott, who had a career-high 11. Scott and the Bears followed that performance up with another 28 assists against Portland State, with Scott dished out another 11 of them.

• Against Colorado Christian on December 13, UNC had a season-high 25 assists. Eight of the 11 players that played in the game recorded at least one assist and four players had four or more. The Bears also helped its assist-to-turnover ratio with just six turnovers in the game.

Class of Kath
• Katie Longwell is the team's lone senior this season. So far in her senior campaign, she has been a valuable sixth man for UNC. She averages a team most 21.1 minutes off the bench. She averages 5.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists.

• She sparked the team after a slow start against Southern Utah at home, hitting a trip of 3-pointers during a 17-0 UNC run.

Three Headed Monster
• Northern Colorado possesses a three headed monster that is tough to stop from scoring. The trio of Savannah Smith, Savannah Scott and Courtney Smith are all ranked in the Top 15 in the Big Sky in scoring. Smith leads the way with 16.3 points while Scott and Courtney Smith are not far behind, each averaging 13.6.

Big Sky Offense
• Since Big Sky play began in the last week of 2016, UNC has put one of the best offenses on the court. The team is averaging 74.3 points per game to rank second in the conference, along with being second in field goal percentage at 45.6 and first in 3-point FG percentage at 39.8. Ball movement has been a big part of the success averaging 19.8 assists per game, and leading the Big Sky with a 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Scorching the Nets
• Northern Colorado is one of the top shooting teams in the nation this season, shooting 43.3 percent this season, ranking them 60th in the NCAA. Over the year UNC has shot over 40.0 percent 17 times, and 50.0 percent or better four times.

• It's not just making shots close to the basket that have made the team so efficient shooting, but by having solid shooting from downtown. The Bears lead the Big Sky with a 35.3 3-point shooting percentage, ranking 42nd in the nation.

• Against Idaho State, Northern Colorado hit a season-high 14 3-pointers. It was two off the program's DI record and four off the overall. They matched that mark at home against Southern Utah.

• The basket looked twice as big for the Bears at Weber State, where the team shot 61.1 percent. Courtney Smith led that charge for the team hitting 11 of her 12 attempts.

Poll Recognition
• Northern Colorado's strong season has earned them recognition around the nation this season. UNC has been a constant in the Mid-Major Top 25 since first making the poll on November 29th. Since then the team has moved as high as No. 9. They are currently No. 15 in this week's poll. The team also earned a vote in the AP Top 25 in January 30th poll. It was the first time in program history that they received an AP Top 25 vote.

Everyday Threes
• For Savannah Smith and Savannah Scott it has become habit to make a least one 3-pointer a game. Smith is currently on a streak of 16 straight games with a made three. Earlier this year she saw her streak of 10, including three games from last year snapped.

• Scott saw her streak of 18-games end against North Dakota on February 4.

Getting Defensive
• The Bears have turned into a tough defensive team, ranking near the top of the conference in scoring defense and defensive field goal percentage. The team ranks second in the Big Sky allowing just 61.8 points a game and third in field goal defense holding opponents to 37.7 percent.

• Against the Montana schools, the team forced 49 turnovers. Against MSU, the Bears ended up forcing the Bobcats into 28 turnovers, 11 via steals. It was the seventh time this season UNC forced its opponent into 20 or more turnovers.

• Northern Colorado's defense shut down SUU in the second half on January 5th. The T-Birds were held to 14.3 percent shooting in the half, making just four baskets. In the fourth quarter UNC kept SUU to just seven points. For the game Southern Utah shot just 29.4 percent.

• During a three game stretch against Colorado Christian, Saint Mary's, and Pacific, UNC has forced a combine 68 turnovers. Twenty three of those game against CCU, 22 against SMC, and 23 more at Pacific. Of those 68, 36 of them have come via steals.

• For the year, UNC has held its opponent below 60 points 11 times, and under 50 points four times.

• Against Colorado Christian the team put on a clinic at times, forcing 23 CCU turnovers, making 16 steals and holding the Cougars to 25.5 percent shooting. In the third quarter UNC kept them without a made field goal, and for the second half CCU shot just 9.1 percent.

Kiwi's Complete Game
• Junior Kianna Williams can be a match up nightmare for opposing coaches to plan for. Her versatility allows her to guard multiple positions and play both inside and outside. She is averaging 5.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, along with 2.5 assists and 2.1 steals.

• Against Montana State, Williams had a strong game with 10 rebounds, eight points and three steals, but it was not in the box score that made the big impact. Her defense on one of the best players in the Big Sky was key in the win. She held Montana State's Peyton Ferris to just 14 points after she was averaging 28.0 points per game in the past three.

•Williams recorded her first career double-double against Florida Gulf Coast with a 12 point, 12 rebound game. Williams also had a career-high six steals against Saint Mary's.

Bracketology
• According College Sports Madness, the Bears will be heading to South Bend, Indiana to play Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament. UNC would be a No. 15 seed in the game against the Fighting Irish.

Charity Stripe
• Once again this year, UNC is proving you want to avoid fouling them. The team is second the Big Sky with an 78.0 percent free throw percentage putting them 10th in the nation. Savannah Scott made her first 17 free throws this season and is currently on a streak of 15 straight made free throws. She ranks 18th in the nation with an 87.8 free throw percentage.

• That strong free throw shooting became important in the win over Idaho as the team sunk all 10 of its free throw attempts in the four point win.

The Other Kiwi
• While Kianna Williams nickname is Kiwi, Northern Colorado has a true Kiwi on the team this year in Krystal Leger-Walker. The freshman guard comes to Greeley from Waikato, New Zealand. Leger-Walker brings plenty of international competition experience with her as she was on the New Zealand National Team this past summer, and competed for their 3 on 3 FIBA Championship team.

• She has started at guard for the team in all of their games, averaging 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals. Against Montana she matched her career-high eight assists that she previously had against UTSA.

Home Swwwwwwwwwweet Home
• After its first game of the season inside Bank of Colorado Arena, the Bears won 10 straight on their home court. The streak is the fifth longest in program history. The longest is 16 that expanded the 1996-97 season into the 1997-98.

Streaks Part II
• UNC has put together a pair of five plus game win streaks this season. The Bears went on a five-game win streak during the non-conference season, and then went on to tie the program record with an 11-game streak from the last game of non-conference play and through the first 10 games of Big Sky season. They tied the record of 11 straight wins with the 1997-98 team.

Perfect January
• Northern Colorado had its first undefeated month of January in program history. The Bears went 7-0 during the first month of the calendar year. It matched the best record without a loss in a month with the 1975-76 team's February. The seven wins were one shy of the program's record for wins in the month.

#RoadToReno
• The #RoadToReno begins on Thursday, December 29th in the Big Sky. Once again this year all 12 teams will compete in the Big Sky Conference Tournament in Reno, Nevada. This year's tournament will take place from March 6-11, and be in conjunction with the men's tournament during March 7-11. All of the men's and women's games will be played inside the Reno Event Center. Tickets are available now at UNCBears.com.

Strong Non-Conference Play
•Northern Colorado got out to its best start in non-conference play since the 2011-12 season. That year the team also won eight games during the non-conference season. Going into Big Sky Play, UNC has the most wins of any other team in the conference.

Party Like it's 1998
• Savage Garden was atop the Billboard Top 100, Titanic was sweeping across the nation and the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers were preparing to play in Super Bowl XXXII the last time a Northern Colorado basketball team posted back-to-back 90 point games. That was until the week of December 26-January 2 when the Bears scored 95 against Sacramento State and 91 against Portland State. For the week the team shot 50.0 percent, hitting 17 3-pointers.

Centennial State Challenge
• The Bears finished its five-game Centennial State Challenge on Tuesday when they took on Colorado Christian. UNC finished those five games against other Colorado schools with a 3-2 record. They defeated CCU, Air Force and Denver, while falling to Colorado and Colorado State.

Strong Opening Month
• Northern Colorado went 5-1 in the opening month of play this year, matching a program best for wins in November. UNC has won five games in November two other times, 1996 and 1998. Since head coach Kamie Ethridge took over in 2014, the Bears are 13-4 in November.

Clutch City
• UNC has come up clutch throughout the year. In games decided by five points or less, the Bears are 6-0. Savannah Smith has two of the game-winning shots for the team, hitting the go-ahead shot against San Diego with 17 second left on November 20, and then having a 4-point play with 7.3 seconds left to tie and take the lead on Eastern Michigan on November 27.

Youth is Served
• Youth will be a theme for the 2016-17 UNC women's basketball team as the roster features just three upperclassmen compared to eight underclassmen. Underclassmen have accounted for 60.6 percent of the playing time.

Deep on the Bench
• Northern Colorado has a deep bench it can tap into if needed this season. Through the team's first eight games, the Bears 11 active players have seen action in at least five games this year. The team has been able to play all 11 of its players in nine games this year.

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 two 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.
• Ethridge will once again be helping coach the US team this summer when she is an assistant for the women's U19 team at the FIBA World Cup.

• This past summer, Ethridge was an assistant coach on the U18 team that went on to win gold at the FIBA Americas in Valdivia, Chile.

New Bear
• UNC inked a new Bear during the early signing period in November, bringing in Tiarna Clarke. Clarke will bring the team's number of international players on the team to two as she comes to UNC from Albany, New Zealand. She is a 5' 7" combo guard who like, Leger-Walker will bring plenty of international experience to the team.

Proving Them Wrong
• UNC will be out to prove the Big Sky Preseason poll wrong this season. Both the media and coaches poll picked the Bears to finish ninth this year. Idaho was the favorite in the coaches' poll and Montana State in the media.

Succeeding Off the Court
• UNC women's basketball team has not only been succeeding on the court, but also in the classroom. Last year seven players earned a spot on the Big Sky All-Academic team for having a cumulative GPA of over 3.2 and played in at least half of the team's games.

What's on Deck?
• Northern Colorado hosts its last home game of the season on Saturday when they welcome Idaho State to town. Tip-off is set for 2 pm, before the game UNC will recognize its lone graduating senior in Katie Longwell.

Social Bears
• Wanting to stay up to date on all things UNC women's basketball? Make sure to follow the team on social media. We are on Facebook: /UNCBearsWBB, Twitter: @UNCBearsWBB and Instagram: UNCBearsWBB. Make sure to use the #Bearsketball as well, the official hashtag for the team.

UNC Bears Focus
• Back again this year is the UNC Focus presented by Advantage Bank. The UNC Focus is a weekly radio show. The Voice of the Bears Troy Coverdale will host it each Wednesday night on 1310 KFKA from 5pm-6pm.