Preview: @UNCBearsWBB Begins Big Sky Tournament Wednesday Against Montana

Wednesday, March 7

Reno, Nev.

1:05 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Montana

Tickets

Photo by: Rob Trubia

3/5/2018 6:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Northern Colorado Game Notes

Northern Colorado women's basketball takes on the Lady Griz of Montana in the Big Sky quarterfinals

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

RENO, Nev. – Northern Colorado women's basketball begins its play in the Big Sky Tournament on Wednesday, March 7 at 1:05 pm MT against the Lady Griz of Montana. The Bears, who are the top seed in the field, were able to relax on Monday as they earned a first round bye, while the No. 8 seed Montana, defeated Sacramento State 87-80.

Wednesday afternoon's game can be seen on Pluto TV channel 231, along with being streamed on WatchBigSky.com. An audio broadcast of the game along with live stats will be provided through UNCBears.com.

Opening Tip
• Northern Colorado finished the regular season with a 23-6 record overall and 15-3 in the Big Sky Conference.
• UNC won the conference title by two games over Idaho, securing the No. 1 seed in this week's Big Sky Tournament in Reno, Nevada.
• The Bears enter the conference tournament on a 10-game win streak, winning its final regular season game of the season 90-68 over Sacramento State.
• Montana advanced to play UNC with an 87-80 win over Sacramento State in the 8/9 game to open the Big Sky Tournament.
• UM started the Big Sky season strong, even leading the conference the last time these two teams met but went 2-7 over its last nine games of the regular season.
• This is the first Big Sky Tournament game between Northern Colorado and Montana since the 2014-15 title game in Missoula.

Last Time Out
Northern Colorado took care of its business on Senior Night defeating Sacramento State 90-68 to close out the regular season. Five Bears finished the game scoring in double figures, led by Tiarna Clarke's 19 points.

Scouting Lady Griz
Montana earned the opportunity to play Northern Colorado in the Big Sky quarterfinals on Wednesday with an 87-80 win over Sacramento State on Monday to end a two-game losing streak.

The Lady Griz play a physical grind it out style scoring 63.9 points a game, while their opponents are scoring 65.1 ppg against them. UM has just two scorers in averaging double figures this season in McKenzie Johnston and Caitlin Longergan at 12.1 and 10.1, respectively. Johnston also leads the team with 4.9 assists per game.

Opponents have learned to allow Montana to try and shoot from the outside as they struggle to hit 3-pointers at just a 27.6 percent.

Northern Colorado swept the season series against UM winning at home 68-50 and in Missoula 64-58. Kamie Ethridge is 3-0 against Shannon Schweyen.

Against the Big Sky
UNC joined the Big Sky in the 2006-07 season and has gone 121-99. Overall, the team is 133-137 against Big Sky Schools.

On This Date
Northern Colorado is looking to change its luck when playing on March 7. The program is 1-8 on the date with the lone with coming in 2015 at North Dakota. When playing at a neutral site the team is 0-3.

Best in the Big Sky
UNC made history Wednesday, February 28 by winning the program's first outright Big Sky regular season title.

All-Big Sky Honors
Three Bears earned All-Big Sky honors announced by the conference over the weekend in Savannah Smith, Savannah Scott and Kianna Williams. Smith was named the Most Valuable Player of the conference and earned first team All-Big Sky honors for the second straight year. Williams won Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year after continuously locking down the opponent's best player all year long. Finally, Scott earned her second All-Big Sky second team honor.

Feeling 22 is Nice, But 23 is Better
Northern Colorado broke its single-season wins record on Friday with its 23rd to end the regular season. Under head coach Kamie Ethridge, UNC has won at least 22 games in three of the four seasons.

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 1,294 points for 12th all-time. Scott can crack the top 10 if she can pass Courtney Stoermer's mark of 1,309.

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 17.2 points to rank second on the team, along with 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists, for second and fourth best on the team, respectively. She has scored 20 plus points 10 times this season. Scott is averaging 16.5 points and 5.2 rebounds in Big Sky play.

Following missing the previous three games for Northern Colorado, Scott returned to the lineup to close out the regular season and averaged 19.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals. Scott shot 65.2 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from beyond the arc.

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 17.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.0 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 1,211 career points, for 12th all-time.

Smith had an impressive Big Sky season to earn MVP honors. She averaged 19.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.7 steals.

For the season, she has scored 30 or more once, 20 or more 10 times and in double figures 23.

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 7.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.2 blocks this season. She leads the team with the 5.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks, wrecking havoc on opposing offenses.

Since the beginning of the Big Sky season, Williams' scoring output has increased to 8.6 ppg and 6.1 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 20.8 minutes off the bench leading to 6.6 points and 2.0 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.

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.

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 fourth in all of NCAA Division I with an 80.3 free throw percentage. The team has hit 358 of its 446 free throw attempts. Savannah Scott leads the team with an 86.8 percentage from the charity stripe, ranking fourth in the Big Sky and 24th 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 15.2 assists per game this season. That ranks third in the Big Sky and 73rd in the NCAA.

Krystal Leger-Walker leads the team with 3.8 apg and a 1.31 assist-to-turnover ratio. Those numbers rank her eighth in the Big Sky in both categories and 187th and 229th 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. 19 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25, released on February 27th. 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?
With a win, Northern Colorado moves onto the Big Sky semifinals on Friday, March 9 against the winner of the Weber State vs Idaho State. Tipoff for that game is also set for 1:05 pm MT/12:05 pm PT.