Women's Basketball Readies For Second-Straight MWC Opponent
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Back To Back
Senior guard Whitley Cox became just the third player in
Northern Colorado history to earn Big Sky Player of the Week honors
and now she has done so in back-to-back weeks after leading the
Bears to a 3-1 mark over a four-game home stretch. Cox has scored
87 points with 21 rebounds and 10 assists in the last four contests
and is the first player since Mandy Morales from Montana earned
back-to-back nods in Jan/Feb of last season.
A Month To Remember
The Bears are guaranteed a winning record in December
after posting a 5-2 mark to this point. It is the first winning
12th month of the year since the 2003-04 team went 5-4.
NC vs Air Force
Wednesday marks the 36th meeting between Northern Colorado
and Air Force. The Bears are 6-12 all-time at the Air Force Academy
but started the season there a year ago with a 73-53 victory and
are 3-2 in the last five contests at the Academy. The only other
team instate the Bears have played more often is Denver at 39
games.
Scouting Air Force
The Falcons are 2-9 on the season and have dropped four
straight. Air Force lost a 62-45 decision to Bradley two nights
after Northern Colorado defeated the Braves 75-58 for the only
common opponent this year. Raimee Beck is the only Falcon averaging
double figures in scoring at 14.9 per game, while she also leads
the team with 7.7 rebounds a contest. Ardie McInelly has used the
same five starters in all 11 games, but 15 different players have
seen action.
The Last Meeting
In the season opener for both teams in 2008-09, the Bears
won a 73-53 game at Air Force. Three scored in double figures as
Cassie Lambrecht had 13, Courtney Stoermer scored 12 and Kate
Kevorken added 11. Whitley Cox led the team with five rebounds and
Stoermer chipped in five assists and three steals. The Falcons were
led by Raimee Beck with 18 points, while Kim Kreke had a
double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds and each player had
four steals. Air Force scored first, but NC led the rest of the
game and shot over 50 percent from the field in both halves,
including .579 (11-19) from beyond the arc.
Against The Mountain West
The Bears are now 35-75 all-time against the teams in the
Mountain West Conference after defeating Colorado State last Monday
and is one of only two teams in the Big Sky this season with a win
over the league (Weber State defeated BYU). NC has played Air Force
more than any other team, with 35 meetings (Air Force 14-21, BYU
2-4, Colorado State 10-18, New Mexico 3-4, San Diego State 0-2,
UNLV 0-3, Utah 0-6, Wyoming 6-17).
On This Date
Northern Colorado is 3-5 in games played on Dec. 30 with a
1-3 record in road games. In 2007, the Bears lost a 73-62 game at
St. Mary's. NC is 1-0 against instate competition on the 30th after
defeating Mesa State 69-64 in Grand Junction in 1993 for the last
road victory.
Unusual Suspects
In the last several games, Northern Colorado has been
getting some outstanding rebounding totals from some of the
smallest players on the floor. In the win over Colorado State
senior guard Lizzie Cooper tied for the team lead with a
career-best eight boards, while freshman Victoria Timm was second
on the team with six rebounds against Bradley and led the Bears
with eight against Mesa State.
Scoring At Will
Senior guard Whitley Cox has taken over the scoring column
of late with 71 points in the last three games. That three game
stretch is the most for the Bears since Danielle Hagen scored 72 in
the last three contests of the 2007-08 season, which included her
school record-tying performance of 37 in the quarterfinals of the
Big Sky Tournament against Portland State. Cox now leads the
league, averaging 17.2 points per game and ranks 72nd in NCAA
Division I through games played on Dec. 20. Cox also leads the Big
Sky Conference with four 20+ point scoring performances on the year
and now has 21 in her career.
1-2 Punch
Junior guard Courtney Stoermer and senior guard Whitley
Cox rank 1-2 in the Big Sky statistics in minutes per game,
respectively. Stoermer averages 35.8 and Cox 33.3 minutes per game.
The duo has also scored 380 points this season (31.7 per game),
which is 49.1 percent of the team's total and they account for
almost half of the team's assists (67 of 135) and steals (40 of
81). The Bears are the only team to have two ranked among the top
five in scoring in the league statistics as Cox leads the way at
17.2, while Stoermer is fourth at 14.5 points per game.
Making The Free Ones
In the win over Colorado State, the Bears shot .938 from
the free throw line, making 15 of 16. The percentage ties the
school Division I record from Dec. 2, 2005 at Nevada with a minimum
of 10 made. The Bears are up to .698 from the free throw line after
connecting at a .780 pace on the recent home stand.
Crashing The Boards
Over the team's four game homestand they outrebounded the
opposition 38.5 to 31.8 per game. The Bears tallied 27 more
rebounds total, grabbing more than Mesa State, St. Mary's and
Colorado State. NC now ranks second in the Big Sky in rebounding
defense with 37.2 per game and held Colorado State without an
offensive rebound in the first half.
It Doesn't Matter
Five games ago, head coach Jaime White made a change in
the starting lineup, replacing sophomore Kaisha Brown with freshman
Lauren Oosdyke, but the switch doesn't seem to make a difference to
either player. Oosdyke averaged 8.4 points and 6.7 rebounds in the
first seven games coming off the bench and is now scoring 8.8 with
6.8 boards per game. On the flip side, Brown averaged 7.9 points
and 2.6 rebounds in seven starts and has averaged 7.4 points and
2.8 rebounds in the last five off the bench.
Starting The Watch
Junior guard Courtney Stoermer is inching closer the 1,000
point milestone in her career. She currently has 859 points,
needing just 141 more to become the 15th player in school history
to score 1,000. With her current season scoring average of 14.5 per
game she should break the barrier at Denver on Feb. 3.
Closing In
Several players are approaching career milestones. Senior
guard Whitley Cox needs seven more points to move into sixth on the
all-time charts and is 13 assists shy of appearing on the career
top-10 list. Junior forward Lara Merritt needs 12 more points for
the 200th of her career, while junior guard Courtney Stoermer needs
five rebounds for 300 and six assists for 250.
Stop Thief!
Junior guard Courtney Stoermer leads the team with 25
steals on the season and currently ranks ninth all-time with 136.
With six more she will tie Diane Worner (1980-84) for eighth and
seven will tie her with Shelley Lindstrom (1988-92) for seventh.
She is also just 54 shy of the school record of 189 steals held by
Renee L'Heureux (1981-85).
Huskies of Honor
Assistant coach Paige Sauer was honored on Dec. 23 along
with the other 16 members of the 1999-00 team who were inducted as
a group into the "Huskies of Honor" program at Connecticut after
winning the national championship.
On The Plus Side
The overtime win against Colorado Christian marked the
11th extra-period win in school history and the Bears are 11-10 in
games that go additional minutes. In games at home, NC is now 4-6
and have won the last three at home.
Downtown Kaisha Brown
Sophomore forward Kaisha Brown went a perfect 6-for-6 from
the three-point line at Cal State Northridge, scoring a career-best
20 points in the victory. Brown is second on the team with 23
three-pointers and leads the team with a .426 shooting percentage,
both of which rank among the top six in the Big Sky Conference.
Double, Double Toil and
Trouble
Redshirt freshman Lauren Oosdyke recorded the first
double-double of the season for the Bears, scoring 14 and grabbing
11 rebounds against Eastern Illinois. Junior Jayne Strand answered
with one against Colorado Christian, scoring 13 and recording 12
rebounds.
Climbing Cox
With 14 points in the opener at New Mexico, senior guard
Whitley Cox now ranks in the top-10 in scoring at Northern
Colorado. She has 206 points on the year bringing her career tally
to 1,254 to rank seventh. With seven more points she will move into
sixth past Lou Piel (1976-80).
Signing With ESPN
The University of Northern Colorado department of
athletics is proud to announce it has partnered with ESPN AM 870
for women's basketball radio broadcasts in 2009-10. All regular
season games will be available live both over the airwaves at 870
AM, as well as online via audio streaming at www.espn870.net.
Northern Colorado alumnus Jason Alvine will be handling the
play-by-play duties for the Bears' action.
Helping Hand
Junior guard Courtney Stoermer now ranks in the top 10 in
career assists at Northern Colorado, while senior guard Whitley Cox
is rapidly approaching the top 10. Stoermer currently has 244
assists to tie for seventh, while Cox is 13 shy of 10th.
Picked Sixth, Eighth
For not the first time in history, and assuredly not the
last, there is discrepancy between the women's basketball coaches
and media in the Big Sky Conference. The Big Sky office announced
the 2009-10 preseason coaches and media polls. The two groups
agreed on the top three picks and the ninth selection, but had the
middle of the pack in different orders. Northern Colorado is
selected sixth among the coaches with 28 points but eighth in the
media poll with 66 points. Portland State, Montana and Montana
State were tabbed by both groups as the top three, respectively,
while Northern Arizona rounded out both polls in ninth. The coaches
have Weber State fourth and Idaho State fifth ahead of the Bears,
then Eastern Washington and Sacramento State in seventh and eighth,
respectively. The media ranked Idaho State fourth, Sacramento State
fifth, Weber State sixth and Eastern Washington seventh.
Coaches Show
The Jaime White Head Coaches Show will take place at The
Rio Grande (825 9th Street) on Tuesdays from 6:00-7:00 p.m. during
January. Join Coach White and host Jason Alvine as they recap the
previous week, preview the upcoming week and talk strategies with
fans and players.
Going Streaking
Northern Colorado has now made at least one three-pointer
in 249 consecutive games, dating all the way back to Jan. 20, 2001
at South Dakota State.
Stellar In The Classroom
Six current Bears were named to the Big Sky All-Academic
Team last season in Kaisha Brown, Lizzie Cooper, Courtney Kranz,
Cassie Lambrecht, Lara Merritt and Courtney Stoermer.
Bears Add Four Freshmen
Three Colorado and one Minnesota high school standouts
signed National Letters of Intent to play women's basketball at the
University of Northern Colorado, announced Head Coach Jaime White.
Molly Duehn, Kirsten Hess, Kim Lockridge and D'Shara Strange make
up the signing class for the Bears and will enroll in classes in
the fall of 2010.