Montana State University
Northern Colorado
Montana State Women Come Up Short at Northern Colorado
3/4/2010 10:14:08 PM | Women's Basketball
Despite a career-high 22 points from Sarah Strand and ten rebounds by Katie Bussey, the Montana State women's basketball team couldn't overcome an eight-point halftime deficit in a 70-68 loss to Northern Colorado, Thursday night in Butler-Hancock Pavilion.
MSU-UNC Box and Play-by-Play (pdf)
Despite a career-high 22 points from Sarah Strand and ten rebounds by Katie Bussey, the Montana State women's basketball team couldn't overcome an eight-point halftime deficit in a 70-68 loss to Northern Colorado, Thursday night in Butler-Hancock Pavilion.
Northern Colorado (14-15, 6-9) built its largest lead of the opening stanza with 37-seconds remaining in the first period on a Courtney Stoermer three-pointer to give the Bears a 42-34 cushion heading into the first half.
“I felt we were a step slow and our shots were a little short in the first half,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. “However, I'm proud of our team for the making the correct adjustments at intermission and playing a great second half.”
Montana State (15-13, 8-7) opened the second half on an 18-3 run to stake its largest lead of the contest at 52-45 with 11:40 remaining following a Strand field-goal.
UNC answered with a 9-2 run to knot the score at 54-all with 8:35 left.
The game was tied four times down the stretch before a Brittany Fernandez layup gave Northern Colorado a two-point margin at the 1:03 mark, and a lead the Bears wouldn't relinguish.
A Lyndi Seidensticker triple pulled MSU to within 69-68 with 10-seconds remaining.
MSU had a chance to tie or win the game in the final seven-seconds, but were unable to get a shot off.
“Sarah and Erica (Perry) really got us going in the second half and we were starting to click and get our focus back,” Binford said. “But, it's tough when the other team gets to the line like Northern Colorado did.”
UNC finished the game with a sizeable advantage from the charity stripe, connecting on 25-35 free throws, while the Bobcats were held to seven-of-11. The Bears converted just six field-goals in the second half.
Besides Strand's offensive ouput, Perry also tallied double-digits with 17 points, while adding two assists and two steals.
For the game, MSU shot 48 percent from the floor, while holding UNC to 40 percent, including just 27 percent in the second stanza.
Montana State will close out the 2010 regular-season Big Sky slate at Northern Arizona on Saturday night.
