@UNCBearsWBB battles back to defeat Colorado State

Tuesday, November 20

Fort Collins, Colo.

7 pm

University of Northern Colorado

2-2

Colorado State

1-2

Northern Colorado

Colorado State

Photo by: Woody Myers

11/20/2018 10:19:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Micayla Isenbart scored a career-high 17 points in UNC's 53-47 win.

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

FORT COLLINS – There was no quit in the Northern Colorado women's basketball team Tuesday night as they defeated Colorado State 53-47 in comeback fashion. The Bears overcame a 13 point deficit early in the third quarter, storming back with lockdown defense. Micayla Isenbart led the way for the Bears offensively with a career-high 17 points.

While UNC closed the gap to seven by the end of the third quarter, the fourth quarter is when the team clamped down on defense to secure the win. The Bears held the Rams to one basket and just three points in the final quarter of play outscoring them 16-3.

Northern Colorado opened the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run to tie the game with 6:23 remaining in the game. Krystal Leger-Walker made the two baskets to tie the game, first a floater in the lane to cut the CSU lead to two, before she broke ankles and hit a step back jumper to even the game at 46.

Bridget Hintz would make one of two free throws to break the tie a minute later and the Bears never trailed the rest of the way.

Colorado State went without a made basket over the final 8:02 of the game with their lone point in that stretch coming on a free throw with less than 30 seconds left. In the final 10 minutes of play, UNC held CSU to 9.1 percent shooting and forced four turnovers.

Northern Colorado got itself into the deficit with poor shooting in the first half. The Bears shot 22.2 percent in the first quarter but led by three as CSU shot only a little better at 26.7 percent.

Micayla Isenbart started her big night for Northern Colorado in the second when she scored the first eight points for the team.

CSU closed the half on a 13-2 run over final 3:53 as the Bears turned the ball over five times.

What They Said
Head Coach Jenny Huth

Overall thoughts
"It wasn't pretty, but I am proud of how we came out in the second half. We came out and just focused on winning possession by possession. We did that with defense. I thought it was going to be a key to win the third quarter. We did that well and then played awesome defense in the fourth quarter. We held them under 50 points, which we thought was going to be important tonight. Offensively we struggled a lot but had big games from (Micayla) Isenbart and (Alexis) Chapman. I actually said it before the game we were going to need big games out of them to win it."

On Micayla's play
"She knew she could help us in this game. I don't think she felt like she played well in our last game against Denver. She is a really tough and resilient kid. I think what got her going was crashing on the boards and once she had a shot go in she was tough to stop."

Freshman forward Micayla Isenbart

How did tonight's game feel?
"I knew the team needed me to step up when Coach Jenny put me in I knew I had a role to fulfill. When you start to see shots going in it builds confidence and we were just all playing off of each other and started making shots."

What was the role you felt like you needed to fill?
"I felt like I just needed to make plays and give the team a lift. Coach Jenny always talks about giving a lift when you come into a game. No matter what it can be, scoring points helping get defensive stops."

Stat to Know
Defense was the key to the comeback victory for Northern Colorado as they held Colorado State to 23.8 percent in the second half including shooting 1-for-11 in the fourth quarter.

Game Notes
- Micayla Isenbart finished the game as the leading scorer with a career-high 17 points in 21 minutes. She shot 6-of-9 from the field including one 3-pointer and making all four of her free throw attempts.
- The 13-point comeback is tied for the fourth best comeback in UNC's Division I history. The last time Northern Colorado came back from down 13 points was last season at home against San Francisco.
- Ali Meyer followed up her 11 rebound effort against Denver last Friday by pulling down 12 boards tonight.
- UNC had 13 offensive rebounds in the game, with six players grabbing at least one and five having two each.
- Alexis Chapman made a career-high three 3-pointers in the game on her way to a best 13 points.
- While Savannah Smith did not have her best game scoring she found her open teammates and helped the team with a career-high nine assists.

What's Ahead
Northern Colorado will spend Thanksgiving in the Bay Area. UNC continues its three-game road trip by taking on San Francisco on Friday. Tip-off between the Bears and Dons is set for 3 pm MT.

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