Women's Basketball back in action hosting Southern Utah

Calendar

Nov 3

5 p.m. MT

Women's Basketball

vs Northern New Mexico College

Nov 8

2 p.m. MT

Women's Basketball

vs Lamar

Nov 11

6 p.m. MT

Women's Basketball

vs Bethany College (Kan.)

Nov 14

6 p.m. MT

Women's Basketball

vs Denver

Nov 21

TBD

Women's Basketball

vs Campbell University

Nov 22

TBD

Women's Basketball

at DePaul University

Nov 25

7 p.m. | 6 p.m. MST

Women's Basketball

at Arizona

Nov 28

6 p.m. MT

Women's Basketball

vs Chadron State

Dec 3

6 p.m. MT

Women's Basketball

vs Kansas City

GREELEY, Colo. – Basketball is Back! After a brief break, Northern Colorado Women's Basketball returns to the court, hosting first-place Southern Utah on Tuesday evening.

Game Info
Who: vs. Southern Utah (8-5, 4-0)
When: January 18 at 6 p.m. MT
Where: Bank of Colorado Arena
How To Follow: LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS | UNC_BearsWBB

Opening Tip
Kristen Mattio and the Northern Colorado defense continue to cause problems around Division I basketball. Six times, the Bears have held its opponent below 60 points and twice UNC has given up less than 50. Allowing 58.9 points per game, the Bears are the second-best defense in the Big Sky and No. 81 in the country.

Sophomore Kristen Harden is starting to gain a lot of confidence. In her past two games, she has scored a career-high 18 points against Abeline Christian and followed it up with her first career double-double with a 14 points, 12 rebounds game against Kansas Wesleyan.

Belmont Abbey Transfer Allie Downing is becoming a three-point shooting machine. Since going 1-2 from downtown against Samford, Downing has hit at least one three in six straight games, including a 6-10 showing at Montana State.

Entering this weekend, the Bears boast an undefeated home record. UNC has a seven-game home win streak dating back to last year.

Last Time Out
Kurstyn Harden controlled the paint while Allie Downing continued to drain shots from behind the arc in an 82-54 win over Kansas Wesleyan. Harden had her first career double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds while Downing drained five threes.

Scouting the Thunderbirds
Fourth-year head coach Tracy Sanders continues to have Southern Utah trending in the right direction. SUU has won six of their last seven with the lone loss coming to Top 25 ranked Colorado.

The T-Birds lead the Big Sky in scoring with 75.4 points per game and rank 48th in the NCAA. Three players are averaging double figures scoring with five more scoring five or more per game. Lizzy WIlliamson leads the team with 12.2 ppg ranking 10th in the Big Sky.

SUU loves to control the boards with a +10.5 rebound margin a game. Willamson also leads the team in rebounding with 9.4 per game and second in the Big Sky.

History against Southern Utah
Northern Colorado holds a 12-7 lead in the all-time series against Southern Utah. The two schools met just once before the Thunderbirds joined the Big Sky in 2013.

What's Ahead?
It's a busy week of basketball in Greeley as the Bears will play host to Idaho on Thursday, January 20 and Eastern Washington on Saturday, January 22 before heading back out on the road. Tickets can be purchased 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.