Bears defend home court, UNC's depth too much for UTRGV

Tuesday, November 16

Greeley, Colo.

6 p.m. MT

University of Northern Colorado

1-2,0-0Big Sky

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

0-3,0-0WAC

UTRGV

Northern Colo.

11/16/2021 9:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: By Thomas Hoffman, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – Consider home court defended.

Northern Colorado Women's basketball picked up its first win of the season and head coach Kristen Mattio secured her first victory in the Blue and Gold as the Bears held off UT Rio Grande Valley, 60-58.

Much like against Colorado State, UNC came out punching first. Led by Tarleton transfer Callie Boyles, the Bears went 3-9 from downtown in the opening quarter. Boyles was a perfect 2-2 and went 2-2 from the charity stripe to lead everyone with eight points through the first 10 minutes.

The Denton, Texas native would finish with 13 points and an unblemished 4-4 shooting, including 3-3 from three-point range. She also pulled down a team-high seven boards.

Northern Colorado also flexed its muscles on the defensive end. In the opening quarter, UNC held UTRGV to 4-15 shooting and 0-6 from beyond the arc, leading to a 19-8 lead.

UTRGV outscored the Bears in both the second and the third quarters, however. The home fans inside the Bank of Colorado Arena were on their feet as UNC carried a 43-42 advantage into the final quarter.

Zoe Campbell, another new face in a Bears uniform, dialed up her best performance in the Blue and Gold. In the fourth quarter alone, Campbell pulled down three of her six rebounds and scored five of her seven points to keep the Vaqueros at arm's length.

After scoring 10 points, including three from long-range with her newfound jump shot, Jaiden Galloway turned into a true point guard, dishing out two vital assists and grabbing an important offensive rebound to keep the momentum going.

Among those she found was sophomore Sydney Stensgard. Stensgard connected on her second three of the season to put the Bears up five in the fourth but it was her assist to Hannah Simental, whose four-point play put UNC up 59-53 with 1:40 on the clock that may have been her most integral contribution.

A three and a pair of free throws from UTRGV brought the game within one but Mattio's crew didn't panic. After Simental went 1-2 from the line, Northern Colorado was forced to defend two sets of inbound plays from the Vaqueros.

While Callie Boyles delivered a staggering block on the first attempt, UNC's defense held strong once more with 1.2 seconds left to play, forcing one last miss out of UTRGV and earning the home-opening win, 60-58.

What They Said
Callie Boyles, Hannah Simental and head coach, Kristen Mattio

UNC Athletics · Women's Basketball postgame - UTRGV (11/16/21)

Stat of the Game
Northern Colorado's bench came ready to play. The depth of UNC outscored UTRGV 28-22 on the evening.

Game Notes

Jaiden Galloway backed up her stellar shooting performance at CSU with a 3-7 effort, including 3-5 from three-point range to score in double figures for the second straight game.
Hannah Simental (14 points) led all Bears and has reached double figures in all three games this season.
UNC outrebounded UTRGV 37-30, getting solid efforts on the glass from Callie Boyles (7), Micayla Isenbart (6), Zoe Campbell (6) and Kurstyn Harden (5).
Zoe Campbell delivered another two blocks against the Vaqueros. The Australian is averaging a team-high 2.0 blocks per game.
Senior guard Jayce Gorzeman collected three steals as the Bears turned UTRGV over 11 times.

What's Ahead
Northern Colorado heads to San Francisco over the weekend before returning home on November 26 against Samford. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. MT and fans can find tickets at UNCBears.com/tickets.

To stay up to date on all things UNC Women's basketball, visit UNCBears.com, follow the team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the new UNC Athletics app by clicking here.