University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Thursday, March 7
Greeley, Colo.
7pm
University of Northern Colorado
20-8, 15-4BSC
88
vs
71
Southern Utah
7-13, 4-16BSC
1
2
3
4
F
Southern Utah
18
15
18
20
71
Northern Colorado
25
15
21
27
88
Photo by: Woody Myers
@UNCBearsWBB seniors go out with dominate win
3/7/2019 10:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball
UNC women's basketball closed its home portion of the second with a big 88-71 win over Southern Utah
Savannah Smith and Shalise Fernander stepped onto the Bank of Colorado Arena court for one final time on Thursday night. The duo combined for 42 of Northern Colorado's season-high 88 points as they won on Senior Night 88-71 over Southern Utah.
Smith led the way once again for UNC with 28 points to go with her eight assists, five steals and three rebounds. She shot 12-of-25 from the field including making a trio of 3-pointers.
Meanwhile, Fernander scored a career-high 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds in her first career start.
Northern Colorado made their first five shot attempts of the night and shot 71.4 percent from the field in the first quarter to jump out to a 25-18 lead. Six different Bears scored in the first led by Alexis Chapman's eight points.
Chapman went on to tie her career-high in scoring 23 points and matching her career-best in 3s going 6-of-7 behind the line.
Northern Colorado never trailed in the game, owning the inside scoring 42 points and outrebounding SUU by 10 at 38 to 28.
What they said
Head Coach Jenny Huth
Overall thoughts on the game
"I didn't think we played great on the defensive end overall. We gave away too many threes to them. I was really pleased with the way we shared the ball, moved the ball and scored the ball. It was definitely a lot of scoring in spurts tonight. We played well in all four collective quarters and never really had a drop off throughout the game. I am proud of the way Savannah played tonight even though it was kind of a quiet 28 points. She stayed steady for us all game long finding pick and pop shots and dump offs for our bigs with all the double teams and different schemes they tried to throw at her. Alexis Chapman was sensational tonight. She shot the ball very well and is something we are going to continue to need. She also played a little bit of the point and did it well too. Then you see another strong game down the stretch where we have good minutes from Shalise (Fernander) and Brooklyn (Evans) which is important moving into postseason play to add to our depth."
Stat to know
Basketball can be broken down to a simple game of makes and misses and for Northern Colorado, there were more makes thank misses on Thursday night. The Bears scored a season-best 88 points on 58.1 percent shooting, including going 10-of-20 from behind the arc.
Game Notes
- Smith ended her career inside Bank of Colorado Arena in style. After setting the program's all-time scoring record last Saturday, she took over the single-season scoring title tonight. Smith is the first Bear to score 600 points in a season, ending the game with 621 after tonight. She is also the first player in program history to eclipse the 1,900 career points mark. Following Thursday night's action, she has 1,926 career points.
- Ali Meyer joined Smith in the record books on Thursday, taking over the top spot for rebounds in a single season. She passed D'shara Strange's record of 314 in the 2014-15 season with her nine rebounds effort in the game. Meyer now holds the record with 317. She also scored 10 points in the game.
- Northern Colorado ended the night with four players in double-figures scoring in Smith, Chapman, Fernander and Meyer. All seven of the Bears who saw game action made at least one basket.
Around the Big Sky
Northern Colorado clinched no worse than the 2-seed in next week's Big Sky Tournament with the win and Portland State loss on Thursday. Idaho clinched at least a share of the Big Sky Regular Season title on Thursday with their comeback win over Weber State.
If Northern Colorado wins on Saturday at Northern Arizona and Idaho State defeats Idaho, the Bears will clinch a share of the Big Sky title and the top seed in the Big Sky Tournament.
What's Ahead
The regular season concludes on Saturday afternoon in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Bears will face Northern Arizona at 2 pm. UNC then heads to Boise for the Big Sky Tournament starting on March 11. Northern Colorado has secured a first round bye and will play its first game on March 12 as either the No. 1 or 2 seed.
To stay up to date on all things UNC women's basketball, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Twitter at @UNCBearsWBB.
Smith led the way once again for UNC with 28 points to go with her eight assists, five steals and three rebounds. She shot 12-of-25 from the field including making a trio of 3-pointers.
Meanwhile, Fernander scored a career-high 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds in her first career start.
Northern Colorado made their first five shot attempts of the night and shot 71.4 percent from the field in the first quarter to jump out to a 25-18 lead. Six different Bears scored in the first led by Alexis Chapman's eight points.
Chapman went on to tie her career-high in scoring 23 points and matching her career-best in 3s going 6-of-7 behind the line.
Northern Colorado never trailed in the game, owning the inside scoring 42 points and outrebounding SUU by 10 at 38 to 28.
What they said
Head Coach Jenny Huth
Overall thoughts on the game
"I didn't think we played great on the defensive end overall. We gave away too many threes to them. I was really pleased with the way we shared the ball, moved the ball and scored the ball. It was definitely a lot of scoring in spurts tonight. We played well in all four collective quarters and never really had a drop off throughout the game. I am proud of the way Savannah played tonight even though it was kind of a quiet 28 points. She stayed steady for us all game long finding pick and pop shots and dump offs for our bigs with all the double teams and different schemes they tried to throw at her. Alexis Chapman was sensational tonight. She shot the ball very well and is something we are going to continue to need. She also played a little bit of the point and did it well too. Then you see another strong game down the stretch where we have good minutes from Shalise (Fernander) and Brooklyn (Evans) which is important moving into postseason play to add to our depth."
Stat to know
Basketball can be broken down to a simple game of makes and misses and for Northern Colorado, there were more makes thank misses on Thursday night. The Bears scored a season-best 88 points on 58.1 percent shooting, including going 10-of-20 from behind the arc.
Game Notes
- Smith ended her career inside Bank of Colorado Arena in style. After setting the program's all-time scoring record last Saturday, she took over the single-season scoring title tonight. Smith is the first Bear to score 600 points in a season, ending the game with 621 after tonight. She is also the first player in program history to eclipse the 1,900 career points mark. Following Thursday night's action, she has 1,926 career points.
- Ali Meyer joined Smith in the record books on Thursday, taking over the top spot for rebounds in a single season. She passed D'shara Strange's record of 314 in the 2014-15 season with her nine rebounds effort in the game. Meyer now holds the record with 317. She also scored 10 points in the game.
- Northern Colorado ended the night with four players in double-figures scoring in Smith, Chapman, Fernander and Meyer. All seven of the Bears who saw game action made at least one basket.
Around the Big Sky
Northern Colorado clinched no worse than the 2-seed in next week's Big Sky Tournament with the win and Portland State loss on Thursday. Idaho clinched at least a share of the Big Sky Regular Season title on Thursday with their comeback win over Weber State.
If Northern Colorado wins on Saturday at Northern Arizona and Idaho State defeats Idaho, the Bears will clinch a share of the Big Sky title and the top seed in the Big Sky Tournament.
What's Ahead
The regular season concludes on Saturday afternoon in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Bears will face Northern Arizona at 2 pm. UNC then heads to Boise for the Big Sky Tournament starting on March 11. Northern Colorado has secured a first round bye and will play its first game on March 12 as either the No. 1 or 2 seed.
To stay up to date on all things UNC women's basketball, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Twitter at @UNCBearsWBB.
Team Stats
SUU
NC
FG%
.453
.581
3FG%
.474
.500
FT%
.400
.500
RB
28
38
TO
11
13
STL
11
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
28
FGM
12
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
23
FGM
8
3FGM
6
FTM
1
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G/PG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballWomen's Walk Recap 2025
Wednesday, July 30
Head Coach Mattio, Neenah George, and London Gamble Post Game Press Conference vs Weber State
Wednesday, May 21
Coach Mattio, Silvia Nativi, and Gabi Fields Post Game Press Conference vs Northern Arizona
Wednesday, May 21
Coach Mattio, London Gamble, and April Rummery-Lamb Post Game Press Conference vs Portland State
Wednesday, May 21
