COMPLETE NOTES: at Pacific

Long Stretch

Northern Colorado embarks on a five-game road swing after starting the season 2-0. The Bears play at Pacific on Friday, then return to California next weekend to play in the Odwalla Classic hosted by San Francisco to close out the month of November.

The Series

The Bears and Tigers first met last season, a 67-58 victory for Northern Colorado in Butler-Hancock on December 2. Guard Whitley Cox led the team with 26 points, while forward Jamie Schroeder notched a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Scouting The Tigers

For the second straight game, the Bears will be taking on a team that lost by single digits to the University of Oregon in their season opener. Pacific fell 76-71 at Oregon on Tuesday evening. Amber Simmons led the team with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Janae Young scored 14 and also grabbed eight boards. In 2007-08, the Tigers posted a record of 14-16, including a 9-7 mark in the Big West Conference, losing in the first round of the league tournament to Cal Poly.

Against The League

Northern Colorado sports an all-time record of 3-3 against teams currently in the Big West Conference. The Bears are 1-1 all time against both Cal State Northridge and Cal State Fullerton and 0-1 against UC Riverside.

Last Time Out

In the second game of the season, the Bears again used a big scoring run to put the game out of reach in the first half. NC scored 16 straight in the first half against San Jose State and went on to win 101-63. Junior guard Whitley Cox led the Bears in scoring with 20 points, hitting 10-of-12 from the charity stripe. She was also second on the team with seven rebounds and tied for team honors with five assists with sophomore guard Courtney Stoermer. Sophomore guard Kate Kevorken came off the bench to score 17 points, knocking down three three-pointers for the second straight game. Sophomore guard Paige Ricker also scored in double figures, adding a career-best 11 points. Freshman center Courtney Kranz grabbed eight rebounds in just eight minutes of play and was perfect from the field, hitting her only shot from the field and both free throw attempts.

What White Had To Say

On Early Momentum In The Season: "I think it's important. There are a couple of things we want to do here early. We want to get our young kids some experience, that's why you saw those kids go for around 10 minutes this afternoon. I think that the deeper we are, the better we are, the better we're going to be in March. I think that's one of my main focuses, that and to not wear our kids out. Last year, our kids were playing 35 or 40 minutes and we really want to make sure we're healthy, make sure that the next person coming in is ready to go. That experience for those young kids will just make us better."

En Fuego

For the second straight game, Northern Colorado shot better than 50 percent from the field as they knocked down 56.4 of its shots against San Jose State. Through two games, the Bears are shooting .536 from the field, which includes a .513 mark from beyond the arc. They are also playing superb defense as opponents are shooting just .330 from the floor and .238 from the three-point line.

Century Mark

Northern Colorado topped the century mark in scoring for just the 15th time in school history and the first time since 2002-03 when they scored 101 against San Jose State on Tuesday. The last time the Bears scored over 100 was 103 against NYIT on Dec. 6, 2003. The school record for points in a game is 115 against Norwich on Jan. 5, 1998.

Picking Up

Sophomore guard Kate Kevorken nearly broke the school's single season record for three-pointers last season as a true freshman, sinking 70 to average 2.3 makes per game. Kevorken has nailed three triples in each game this year, making 6-of-10 and leads the team averaging 14.0 points per game. In the first two games, the Bears have made 20 shots from beyond the arc, while the opposition has made one less than Kevorken at five.

How The Holidays Impact

Usually, Tuesday evenings at Cables Restaurant will be the place to be to hear Coach Jaime White and men's coach Tad Boyle talk about the season. Due to the holiday season, the schedule will be a little erratic over the next few weeks. Nov. 25 and Dec. 2 the show will go on as planned, from 6-7 p.m. The next week the show will take place on Wed, Dec. 10. There will be no show Dec. 23, Dec. 30 or Dec. 6.

Inching Closer

Junior guard Whitley Cox has made 183 free throws in her career, including 10 against San Jose State on Tuesday. She is now just 10 free throws shy of tying Heather Barbour (2003-07) for 10th on the Northern Colorado career charts with 193. Missy Borell (1999-03) owns the school record for free throws made with 469. Sophomore guard Kate Kevorken has made 76 three-pointers in her career, needing just 19 more to tie for 10th on the school's list at 95 with Melanie Drangmeister (2003-07). Missy McVoy (1994-98) holds that record with 173 triples.

Balancing Act

Head Coach Jaime White has been able to test her bench early this season, as 11 different players on the team are averaging at least 10 minutes a game and all 13 on the active roster have played at least 12 total minutes in the two contests. Not surprisingly, sophomore guard Courtney Stoermer leads the team averaging 26.0 minutes per game. As a freshman last season, Stoermer ranked among the leaders in the Big Sky in minutes played at 35.9.

Steady Hands

The starting five for the Bears in the first two games (Cooper, Cox, Merritt, Schroeder & Stoermer) have tallied 25 assists with just nine turnovers. Sophomore guard Courtney Stoermer leads the team with 10 assists and just two turnovers in 52 minutes of play, while junior guard Whitley Cox has seven assists and just three turnovers in 48 minutes.

The Long Ball

Northern Colorado shot .579 from beyond the arc against Air Force, establishing a new school record for three-point field goal percentage (in the Division I era). The Bears made 11-of-19, breaking the old record of .531 (17-32) at Hastings College on Feb. 5, 2004 (minimum 10 makes). Six different Bears made at least one triple with freshman Kaisha Brown and sophomore Kate Kevorken each sinking three.

Exhibition Review

The Bears won both exhibition games, defeating Regis 85-71 and Colorado State-Pueblo 70-53. Against Regis, five Bears were in double figures in scoring, led by senior Jamie Schroeder with 14 and she led all players with nine rebounds. Junior Whitley Cox scored 13, freshman Kaisha Brown had 12, sophomore Courtney Stoermer added 11 and freshman Cassie Lambrecht chipped in 10. Against CSU-Pueblo, Brown scored a team-best 14 points, while Schroeder scored 13. Cox was one point shy of a double-double as she scored nine and brought down 11 boards to go along with six assists.

Gaining Respect

The Big Sky Conference announced recently the 2008-09 preseason polls for women's basketball and the Bears were chosen to finish fourth by both the coaches and media after finishing fifth a year ago. Montana was picked to repeat as champions, while Portland State and Montana State were nabbed second and third, respectively.

A New Voice

For the third straight season, Northern Colorado welcomes a new play-by-play voice to the KFKA broadcasts. Chris Lewis will handle the call for the Bears all season and can be found on the dial at 1310 AM or www.1310kfka.com.

All-Conference Award Winners

Forward Jamie Schroeder was named the 2007-08 Big Sky Newcomer of the Year in a vote by the league's nine head coaches. She also earned honorable mention all-conference honors, while center Danielle Hagen was named to the Big Sky All-Conference Second Team.

Oh So Close

Guard Kate Kevorken finished the 2007-08 season just two three-pointers shy of the Northern Colorado single season record of 72. Her 70 triples ties for third with Amber Elliott from 2003-04, while it also ranks as the ninth most in Big Sky Conference history and was the third highest total in the league behind Rebecca Mercer (Montana State) who had 78 and Sonya Rogers (Montana) who made 72.

Winning Ways

The 14 wins by Northern Colorado were the most since the 2003-04 season when the university began the reclassification process to Division I (16-11). In 2006-07, the Bears were just 5-24 and 2-14 in Big Sky play, while they finished 14-16 and went 8-8 in league action for the 11th best turnaround in Division I.

Making The Freebies

Last season's team ended the year shooting .763 from the free throw line, breaking the old school record of .719 from 1989-90. The percentage ranked third in the Big Sky Conference and 18th in the NCAA Division I statistics. NC improved its overall free throw percentage during every month of the season. The Bears started the year shooting just .696 in November, then shot .738 in December, .778 in January, .810 in February and .803 during the four games in March.

Freshmen Tandem

Northern Colorado had the best freshmen tandem in the Big Sky Conference last season in Courtney Stoermer and Kate Kevorken. The pair combined for 626 points, 257 rebounds, 144 assists, 25 blocked shots and 56 steals.

Bears Among National Leaders

Center Danielle Hagen ended the season ranked 34th among Division I players in rebounds with 9.4 per game and 62nd in free throw percentage, shooting .821 from the charity stripe. Forward Jamie Schroeder was 46th in the same category, hitting at an .832 clip. Guard Kate Kevorken also ranked 89th in three-point field goal percentage at .350 and 57th in three-pointers made per game, hitting 2.3 a game. The team ranked 23rd in the same category with their 6.8 a contest and were 18th in free throw percentage, shooting .761 from the charity stripe.

Going Streaking

Northern Colorado has now made at least one three-pointer in 209 consecutive games, dating all the way back to Jan. 20, 2001 at South Dakota State.

On The Horizon

Northern Colorado continues to inch closer to a large program milestone. The win against San Jose State marked the 495th win in program history and the team now needs five for 500. The Bears are 495-484 all-time.

Putting It In Writing

Head Coach Jaime White signed Jayne Strand to a National Letter of Intent recently. As a freshman at Kirkwood Community College, Strand averaged five points and 4.2 rebounds per game in helping the team to the Junior College National Championship. She was a three-sport athlete for the Cyclones of Ames HS, earning four letters in cross country and three each in soccer and basketball. She was a three-time all-conference selection in cross country and an honorable mention all-conference pick in basketball as a senior. She was also a multiple time honor roll selection and a two-time academic all-conference pick.

Say Hello

The Bears welcomed seven new players to the family in the offseason and several made immediate impacts during the exhibition games, with others expected to contribute after redshirt seasons. Kaisha Brown scored in double figures in both contests, joining NC from Spirit Lake Iowa, bringing the total of Iowa players to three on the roster (Chelsie Luhring, Courtney Stoermer). A trio of Colorado players joined the Bears in Cassie Lambrecht, who is the younger sister of former Bear Kendra, Victoria Timm from Holyoke HS and Ashlyn Rhule, who originally went to the University of Wyoming to run cross country. Forward Lauren Oosdyke becomes the second California player, joining Kate Kevorken, while center Courtney Kranz hails from Mendota Heights, Minn. The lone junior college player to join the squad is center Brittany Fernandez, who hails from Kansas City via Butler County Community College where she was rivals with senior Jamie Schroeder while Schroeder played at Colby Community College.

On The Horizon

The Bears will hit the road for five away from the friendly confines of Butler-Hancock. NC heads to San Francisco for the Odwalla Classic on Thanksgiving weekend where they play Washington State on Friday and San Francisco on Saturday. The Bears then face in-state rivals Colorado State on Dec. 6 and at UMKC on the 13th before returning home.