Women's Basketball Hosts Final Two Home Games
COMPLETE NOTES: Portland State, Weber State
Pink Zone
On Thursday, Northern Colorado hosts Portland State in the
team's Pink Zone Game. The initiative is a global, unified effort
for the WBCA (Women's Basketball Coaches Association) to assist in
raising breast cancer awareness. The money raised at the game will
directly benefit the Rocky Mountain Cancer Rehab Institute on the
Northern Colorado campus. Please join the Bears in supporting the
cause by wearing pink to the game. All individuals who wear pink
will receive admission for $4.
Senior Day
Saturday's contest against Eastern Washington marks the
final home game of the 2008-09 season for the Bears. Seniors
Alisa Christopherson and Jamie
Schroeder will be honored prior to the game and it will
start an hour earlier than the normal Saturday tip time as it
begins at 1:05 p.m.
On These Dates
Northern Colorado is 6-3 in games on Feb. 19, with a 5-2
record at home, while the Bears are 6-5 in contests played on Feb.
21 with a mark of 3-2 in Butler-Hancock. The Bears have not played
on the 19th since 2005, an 85-60 victory over Western State, while
last season NC fell to Portland State 80-62 on the road.
The Series
The Bears split the first meeting between the teams this
season, winning at Eastern Washington 55-53 before falling at
Portland State 92-71. Northern Colorado is now 4-1 all-time against
the Eagles and 1-5 against the Vikings. All meetings against the
squads has been while the teams have been memmers of the Big Sky
Conference.
Scouting The Vikings
Portland State sits atop the Big Sky Conference standings
with an 11-1 record and could host the postseason tournament
depending on the final four games. PSU, along with Montana, have
clinched spots to the championship. The Vikings are a perfect 5-0
on the road in league action and are winners of their last four
games after falling in overtime to Montana State a few weeks ago.
Junior guard Claire Faucher is the defending Big Sky player of the
week, earning the award for the first time this season after a
double-double, 20 points and 10 assists against Idaho State.
Kelsey Kahle leads the Vikings in both scoring and rebounding with 16.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Kelly Valentine and Faucher also average double figures in scoring with 11.8 and 10.4, respectively. In league play, Portland State leads the Big Sky in assists (17.75) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.35), while Faucher leads in assists (7.92).
Scouting The Eagles
Eastern Washington is currently one game ahead of the
Bears in the Big Sky standings with a 5-7 conference record. The
Eagles have concluded their home slate, with their final four games
on the road where they are currently 1-3 in league play and 2-8
overall. Last weekend, the Eagles split at home, defeating Weber
State on Thursday, 69-56, and losing 69-59 to Idaho State.
Julie Piper leads the club in both scoring and rebounding with 11.0 and 7.3, respectively, while Nicole Scott and Kyla Evans average 10.5 and 10.4 points per game, respectively. In conference games only, Eastern Washington leads the league in rebounding defense (31.2), rebounding margin (+5.5) and offensive rebounds (14.42), while Brianne Ryan leads in three-point field goal percentage (.464) and Jessica Huntington leads in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.38).
Last Time Out
Northern Colorado played its final non-conference game of
the regular season, defeating Black Hills State 80-46. A pair of
Bears recorded double-doubles as sophomore forward Kate
Kevorken scored 10 points and tied her career-high with 13
rebounds and junior guard Whitley Cox scored 15
and grabbed 10 boards. Sophomore guard Courtney
Stoermer led the way in scoring with 19, while freshman
guard Cassie Lambrecht was right behind her with a
career-best 18 points and freshman forward Kaisha
Brown chipped in 10. Lambrecht also had career-highs in
steals and assists with five and four, respectively. The win gave
the Bears a .500 record in non-conference action at 7-7 and left NC
with a perfect 4-0 record at home against non-league opponents.
She Could Hit It This Weekend
Junior guard Whitley Cox continues to
climb on the career scoring charts and with 28 more points, she
will become just the 14th player in school history with 1,000
career points. Cox tallied 15 against Black Hills State on Friday
to give her 972 career points. The last player to notch 1,000
career points was Danielle Hagen last season, as she ended her
career with 1,008.
Double Figures x 5
For just the second time this season, five different
players scored in double figures in one game. Against Black Hills
State on Friday, sophomore Courtney Stoermer (19),
freshman Cassie Lambrecht (18), junior
Whitley Cox (15), freshman Kaisha
Brown (10) and sophomore Kate Kevorken
(10) all sored 10 or more points. The only other time this season
where five players hit double digits was against Johnson &
Wales.
She Likes Playing The Eagles
Sophomore guard Courtney Stoermer has
tallied some of the best games of her career against Eastern
Washington. Earlier this season, she notched a career-best 25
points in Cheney and in three games, has hit 9-for-11 from beyond
the arc and is averaging 17.7 points per game. Last season,
Stoermer narrowly missed a triple-double as she scored 21 points,
had 10 rebounds and seven assists in the second game against the
Eagles.
Crashing The Boards
Over the last five games, sophomore forward Kate
Kevorken has averaged nearly a double-double with 12.8
points and a team-best 9.0 rebounds. She also has seven blocked
shots and seven steals over the stretch. In three of the last four
games, Kevorken has tallied a double-double in scoring and
rebounding.
The Trifecta
Sophomore guard Courtney Stoermer is the
only player in the Big Sky Conference to be ranked among the top 15
in the league in assists, blocked shots and steals. Stoermer ranks
eighth with 3.08 assists, 13th with 0.63 blocks and third with 2.17
steals per game. She also ranks in the top 15 in the league in
scoring (6th, 13.3), three-point field goal percentage (2nd, .414),
field goal percentage (13th, .409), free throw percentage (11th,
.747) and assist-to-turnover ratio (8th, 1.18).
Getting To The Line
In nine games this season, Northern Colorado has made as
many or more free throws than its opponents has attempted. The
Bears are 7-2 in those contests.
Plus Side
Friday against Black Hills State marked the first time in
11 games the Bears outrebounded an opponent. Northern Colorado has
tallied more boards than the opponents in just five of 24 contests
this season and ranks ninth in the Big Sky Conference with a -6.7
rebounding margin.
The Three Amigos
Since the beginning of the calendar year, one of three
different Bears have led the team in scoring over the 12 games.
Sophomore guard Courtney Stoermer has led five
times, sophomore forward Kate Kevorken has led in
scoring four times, while junior guard Whitley Cox
has led the club three times in 2009. Over that stretch, Stoermer
leads the team with 16.3 points, 2.8 assists and 2.8 steals per
game, while Kevorken has averaged 13.0 points and 6.8 rebounds and
Cox is at 12.0 points per game.
Making The List
Sophomore guard Courtney Stoermer is now
tied for 10th on the school's single-season steals list with 52,
tying Edie Byerly (1986-87). With two more steals, Stoermer will
tie Jabrenta Hubbard (2005-06) for the Division I era record in a
single year with 54 steals. Stoermer joins junior guard
Whitley Cox and sophomore forward Kate
Kevorken in the school's record books. Cox now ranks
fourth in career free throws made with 238, passing Tracie Morris
(1988-90). Kevorken is tied for sixth on the career three-pointers
list with 114 made along with Amber Elliott (2000-03) and Kara
Ketterer (1996-00).
Double, Double, Toil And Trouble
Northern Colorado had just one double-double recorded
through the first 20 games of the season (senior forward
Jamie Schroeder, 10 points and 10 rebounds at
UMKC) but have had at least one in each of the last four games.
Sophomore forward Kate Kevorken has notched three
double-doubles in the last four games, while sophomore guard
Courtney Stoermer and junior guard Whitley
Cox have also each chipped in their firsts of the season.
She's Good For 10
Sophomore guard Courtney Stoermer has
scored at least 10 points in the last 11 games, the third longest
streak in the Big Sky Conference. Mandy Morales of Montana and
Erica Perry of Montana State have both scored 10 or more in 13
consecutive, while Portland State's Kelli Valentine has done so in
12 straight games.
Home Cooking
The Bears, being as young as they are, find certain
comfort in playing in front of a home crowd. Northern Colorado is
averaging 71.8 points and holding opponents to 58.9 per game at
home, while scoring just 59.6 points and allowing 70.1 on the road.
The difference is 12.2 more points scored and 11.2 fewer points
allowed while in Butler-Hancock. Sophomore Courtney
Stoermer truly likes playing at home. She is averaging
15.6 points per game, while shooting .495 from the field and .528
from the three-point line at B-H, but scoring just 11.6 while
shooting .349 from the floor and .333 from beyond the arc in games
away from Butler-Hancock.
Stoermer Steals The Show
Sophomore guard Courtney Stoermer tallied
nine steals against Northern Arizona. It is the NC Division I era
school record, breaking her own record of six from earlier this
year at Eastern Washington and Amber Elliott from 2003. Her total
is also the second-highest ever in Northern Colorado and Big Sky
Conference history. It is also the second-highest total in NCAA
Division I this season as four players have recorded 10 in a game
in 2008-09. Stoermer's season total is now 50, which is just two
shy of adding her name to the school's single-season chart (10th,
Edie Byerly, 1986-87, 52).
First To 30
Junior guard Whitley Cox became just the
fourth player at Northern Colorado in the Division I era to notch
30 or more points in a game. Her tally took her over the 900 point
barrier for her career, and she now has 957. It was also the 15th
time in her career she has scored 20 or more points in a game. The
most points scored in a game came in the finale last season as
Danielle Hagen scored 37 against Portland State in the
quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament.
Milestones
Junior guard Whitley Cox now needs just
28 points for 1,000 and is 18 assists shy of 200. Sophomore forward
Kate Kevorken is 20 points away from scoring 600
in her career and she made her 100th career free throw on Friday
against Black Hills State, while sophomore guard Courtney
Stoermer is just five steals shy of 100 and 11 assists
from 200.
Triple Threat
The trio of Kate Kevorken (44),
Courtney Stoermer (36) and Kaisha
Brown (35) are dangerous from the outside. The three
players have combined to make 115 three-pointers on the year, just
eight less than the Bears' opposition. Three other players,
Lizzie Cooper, Cassie Lambrecht
and Jamie Schroeder have all sunk 15 or more
triples this season, aiding the Bears in making 169 for a
league-leading 7.0 per game. The Northern Colorado single season
record for three-pointers made is 265. The trio are averaging 4.79
three-pointers per game, which would rank them among the top half
of all Division I teams.
That's A C For All You Romans
The win against Weber State marked the program's 500th
all-time victory, and the record since 1974 is now 504-496. The
Bears defeated the Wildcats 66-53 to hit the milestone in the 35th
season of women's basketball.
What An Honor
Sophomore guard Courtney Stoermer became
the first Bear this season to be named the Big Sky player of the
week, earning the award after scoring a career-best 24 points
against Johnson & Wales. Stoermer hit 5-of-6 from beyond the
arc and established a new Division I program record, shooting .900
(9-of-10) from the field. She also tallied two steals, three
assists, two blocked shots and two rebounds in just 23 minutes of
play. This is the first career award for Stoermer.
All-Tournament Team
Sophomore guard Courtney Stoermer was
named to the odwalla Classic All-Tournament team after averaging
15.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, while shooting
.563 (9-16) from the floor and .818 (9-11) from the free throw
line.
Among The Best
Through games played Feb. 8, Northern Colorado ranks 22nd
in three-pointers made per game (7.0), 54th in three-point field
goal percentage (.346) and 69th in turnovers per game (16.4).
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. 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.
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.
Going Streaking
Northern Colorado has now made at least one three-pointer
in 231 consecutive games, dating all the way back to Jan. 20, 2001
at South Dakota State.
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.