Preview: @UNCBearsWBB Aims For Big Sky Title Wednesday Night

Wednesday, February 28

Greeley, Colo

7pm

University of Northern Colorado

Portland State

Tickets

Photo by: Rob Trubia

2/27/2018 8:23:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Northern Colorado Notes Portland State Notes

Northern Colorado women's basketball looks to lock up the Big Sky regular season title on Wednesday night against Portland State

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Colorado's women's basketball team has a chance at history on Wednesday night when Portland State comes to town. The Bears, who have clinched at least a share of the Big Sky Regular Season Title, can win its first outright Big Sky Championship with a win. Tipoff between UNC and PSU is set for 7 pm MT.

Tickets for the game can be bought on UNCBears.com/Tickets, at the UNC Box Office open 10 am – 5 pm Monday through Friday, or by calling 970-351-4849. For those unable to attend the game, it will be streamed on Pluto TV channel 241 and WatchBigSky.com. An audio broadcast, along with live stats of the game will be provided on UNCBears.com. Finally, the team's Twitter page @UNCBearsWBB will provide updates throughout the game.

Gameday Happenings
The game is the team's annual Play 4 Kay night in support of breast cancer. Fans are encouraged to wear pink and the UNC women's basketball team will be accepting donations at the game.

Opening Tip
• Northern Colorado extended its win streak to eight games with a 51-45 comeback win over North Dakota on Saturday.
• The win and Idaho's lose wrapped up at least a share of the Big Sky Regular Season Title for UNC.
• The Bears outscored UND 27-10 in the third quarter to earn the win.
• Savannah Smith scored all 17 of her points in the second half, including 13 in the third quarter.
• UNC held the Fighting Hawks 34.8 percent shooting in the game.
• Portland State has won five of its last six games including sweeping Southern Utah (70-66) and Northern Arizona (68-59) last weekend.
• The Vikings are currently 16-11 and 10-6 in the Big Sky.
• Coming into the final week of play, PSU is tied with Idaho State, Weber State and Eastern Washington.

Last Time Out
Northern Colorado's offense struggled in the first half but came alive in the third quarter to win 51-46. The Bears used an 18-0 run and outscored UND 27-10 in the third. Savannah Smith led the team with 17 points, all of them came in the second half.

Scouting The Vikings
Portland State is having a strong third season under head coach Lynn Kennedy with a 16-11 record and 10-6 in Big Sky play. Coming into the week the Vikings are apart of a four-way tie for third place in the conference.

Ashley Bolston and Sidney Rielly lead PSU with 16.3 ppg. Bolston is scoring 15.3 points in conference play, while Riley at 13.4. Forward Courtney West is averaging 9.4 ppg for the season but has increased her production to 10.6 in Big Sky play. West is the team's leading rebounder with 8.0 rpg.

The Vikings started the Big Sky season slowly, but have won five of their past six games to move up the standings. Coming into the year, PSU was picked sixth by the coaches and eighth by the media.

Against the Big Sky
UNC joined the Big Sky in the 2006-07 season and has gone 119-99. Overall, the team is 131-137 against Big Sky Schools.

On This Date
Northern Colorado is 3-1 at home when playing on the last day of February, but only 3-9 overall. The team last played on the date in 2013 defeating Eastern Washington at home 67-66.

History in the Making
UNC has a shot at history Wednesday night. With a win, Northern Colorado will have won its first outright Big Sky Championship. The Bears have secured at least a share of the title entering this week.

Feeling 22! (Again)
For the second straight year and third time in four seasons, Northern Colorado is looking to feel 22! The Bears have won 22 games three times in program history and have a chance to match that record on Wednesday night.

Eye on the Big Sky
Only one team in the Big Sky has clinched a bye in the Big Sky Tournament, that's UNC. The Bears are guaranteed to be no worse than the No. 2 seed next week. Seven teams are battling for the final three byes in Idaho, Idaho State, Weber State, Eastern Washington, Portland State, Montana State, and Montana.

Scott'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 1,256 points for 12th all-time. The next player Scott can pass on the list is Lou Piel and her 1,260 points for 11th.

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 17.1 points to rank second on the team, along with 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists, for second and third best on the team, respectively. She has scored 20 plus points nine times this season. Scott is averaging 16.2 points and 5.2 rebounds in Big Sky play.

She recorded her first double-double of the season against Weber State with 19 points and 10 points. It was the sixth of her career.

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.

Scott 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.

Oh So Savvy
Savannah Smith impacts the game in a multitude of ways for UNC, with her scoring ability leading to open teammates and finding them, along with her quickness on defense to swipe away the ball from opponents.

Smith is averaging 18.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game this season. She became the 21st member of the 1,000 points club at UNC on January 20. Smith, joins teammate Savannah Scott in the club. The last time two Bears joined the 1,000 points club in the same season was in 2014-15 when D'shara Strange and Stephanie Lee did so. Smith currently has 1,187 career points, for 12th all-time.

Smith has picked up her play during Big Sky play, averaging 20.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.9 steals.

In the past 10 games, she has hit the 20 point mark seven times. For the season, she has scored 30 or more once, 20 or more 10 times and in double figures 22.

Smith capped off the team's 15 point comeback against Weber State in a pivotal Big Sky game but hitting the game-winning shot with 0.4 seconds left in the 71-69 victory.

She scored a career-high 32 points against Montana State on January 4, shooting 10-of-22 from the field including knocking down six 3-pointers. She was also perfect from the free throw line making all six of her attempts. Fifteen of those 32 came in the fourth quarter to help put the game away for UNC.

During the first week of conference play, she earned College Sports Madness Big Sky Player of the Week by averaging 20.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 2.0 assists. Not noted on the stat line were the hockey-like, second assists that Smith had against Eastern Washington and Idaho.

Kiwi Does It All
Kianna Williams continues to be a stat sheet stuffer for Northern Colorado, averaging 7.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.3 blocks this season. She leads the team with the 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks, wrecking havoc on opposing offenses.

Since the beginning of the Big Sky season, Williams' scoring output has increased to 7.9 ppg and 6.0 rpg.

At Montana State, Kiwi recorded her second double-double of the season and third of her career. Williams hit some tough shots as the shot clock expired for 12 points and cleaned the glass with 10 rebounds. Her other double-double came against MSU this season as well.

Williams packed the stat sheet at Weber State when she recorded a career-high in steals with eight, to go with 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks.

She recorded her second career double-double on January 4 against Montana State with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Six of her 11 rebounds came on the offensive end.

Williams hit some key shots for the Bears against Idaho including draining a pair of 3's late to secure the win for the team. The Vandals challenged Kiwi to beat them, and she did just that scoring 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting while dishing out four assists and coming up with four steals.

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 on the All-Tournament team for the Roo Holiday Classic.

Step into the Light
Clarke has become the team's sixth man, averaging 20.5 minutes off the bench leading to 6.0 points and 1.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists a game and has stepped into the starting line up for both Savannah Smith and Savannah Scott this season due to injuries. Clarke has performed well in those situations.

Following her big performance against NAU, Clarke reset her career-high against Southern Utah with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting including four 3-pointers. Clarke scored the first eight points for UNC and nailed a pair of late 3s to help lead the Bears to the win.

Against Northern Arizona, Clarke scored 11 points in the first quarter and 16 in the first half on her way to a career-high 19 points. The 3-pointer was falling for Clarke in the game as she shot 4-of-7 from downtown.

She 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.

Making Most of an Opportunity
Sophomore center Bridget Hintz is making the most of her opportunity put in front of her a few weeks back. Now in an expanded role for the team, Hintz showed she can't just be forgotten about.

Over the eight-game win streak, she is averaging 6.5 points and 3.4 rebounds in 23.6 minutes played.

Hintz had a big third quarter at Southern Utah, scoring six of her 10 points during it. She shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and sank both her free throw attempts.

Against Idaho and Eastern Washington, She averaged 9.5 points and 4.0 rebounds over 34.0 minutes per game.

Hintz scored a career-high 12 points vs EWU on 4-of-6 shooting and connecting on 4 of her 5 free throw attempts.

Spark off the Bench
With the mainstays in foul trouble and struggling offensively in the first half against Montana, Northern Colorado needed help from somewhere else. That came in form of Abby Kain and Kirsten Kramer. The duo combined for eight of the team's 10 points in the second quarter to keep the UM lead to just four at the half.

For the game, the duo combined for 14 points and six rebounds over 28 minutes played. Kain had eight of those points and all of the rebounds over 24 minutes. For Kramer it was her first action of the 2017-18 season, draining a pair of long balls in her only two shots taken.

Kain has carried the momentum from that Montana game with her over the past seven games. She is playing an average of 15.3 minutes while scoring 3.7 ppg and grabbing 3.0 rpg. Those 3.7 points have come on an impressive 52.0 percent shooting.

Kramer provided another spark off the bench against Northern Arizona when she hit on three 3-pointers and tied her career-high in scoring with 11 points.

Gaining Confidence
Freshman Alexis Chapman is one of the most athletic players on Northern Colorado's roster, and her confidence and understanding of the team's offense are turning into results on the court. Chapman had a strong game against Idaho State on February 8 when she scored a career-high 12 points, adding in an assist, steal and block to her stat line.

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 81.3 free throw percentage. The team has hit 344 of its 423 free throw attempts. Savannah Scott leads the team with an 87.9 percentage from the charity stripe, ranking second in the Big Sky and 15th in the NCAA.

The Bears attacked the basket against Eastern Washington on January 27, and the strategy worked out drawing 19 fouls and earning a trip to the charity stripe 21 times. The Bears sank 20 of those attempts, led by Savannah Smith's 8-for-8 performance.

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 15-2 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.

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 15.0 assists per game this season. That ranks third in the Big Sky and 87th in the NCAA.

Krystal Leger-Walker leads the team with 3.8 apg and a 1.29 assist-to-turnover ratio. Those numbers rank her eighth in the Big Sky in both categories and 185th and 238th in the nation, respectively.

She not only dishes out assists but can fill up the bucket and clean the glass as she recorded her first career double-double against Weber State on February 10 with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

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.

20 WIn Season
For the third time under head coach Kamie Ethridge, Northern Colorado has won at least 20 games. The Bears secured the 20-win season on February 17 when they bear Southern Utah 60-54. UNC also recorded 20-win season in 2014-15 and 2016-17 under Ethridge. As a program, UNC has won 20 games in a season four times, including this year.

36 in our Bag of Tricks
Northern Colorado played one of its best quarters of basketball on Thursday against Idaho State. UNC scored a season-best 36 points in the 10 minute period to go from down two entering it to up 20 at the half with the game in hand. The Bears shot 68.8 percent including connecting on four 3-pointers in it. They also went 10-for-12 from the free throw line.

History Made
Northern Colorado made a little history on Saturday in its 78-63 win over Montana State. The Bears completed the first-ever season sweep of Montana and Montana State. The program had only swept the Gem State road trip once, back in 2014-15 season, before this year.

600 and Counting
The Northern Colorado women's basketball program recorded its 600th win on January 27th when they defeated Eastern Washington. UNC women's basketball first started in 1970.

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. 21 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25, released on February 20th. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 38-14 when playing in Greeley.

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 hosts Sacramento State for Senior Night on Friday. The Bears and Hornets will tipoff its final regular season game of the year at 7 pm.