Monday, December 10, 2012

UNC Women's Basketball Fall To Wichita

The Northern Colorado Women's Basketball team stayed with Wichita State through the first 27 minutes of the game, but the Shockers closed on a 20-4 run to defeat the visiting Bears 51-35 in front of a near-capacity crowd for Schoolhouse Rocks with the Shocks Game.

The crowd of 10,307 – made up of primarily school-aged children – is the second-largest crowd to ever witness a Northern Colorado women's basketball game. The largest was 10,687 at Oklahoma in 2006.

The Bears (2-5) welcomed sophomore center Stephanie Lee back to the lineup after missing the previous four games with an injury, and she promptly led the team in scoring nine points. Both senior forward Lauren Oosdyke and junior guard D'shara Strange led the game with eight rebounds each.

Each of the five starters had two assists as the Bears had 11 assists on 14 made baskets, but turnovers once again proved to be the team's bugaboo as they had 22 miscues – including six in a three-minute stretch after the team fought back from an eight-point deficit to knot the score at 31-31.

Junior forward Kim Lockridge snapped an 11-point scoring streak for the Shockers (4-5) with a layup at the 8:32 mark to bring the Bears back within nine, 42-33, but Wichita State scored nine of the final 11 in the game for the 51-35 point win.

No player in the game scored in double figures as Wichita State was led by Jazimen Gordan and Jessica Diamond with nine each. Alie Decker led with six rebounds and nine of the 11 Shockers who played tallied at least one steal – as the team had 13. Wichita State also turned the ball over just nine times in the game.

For the sixth time in seven games this season, the Bears out-rebounded the competition, grabbing 39 compared to 33 for the Shockers. Both teams struggled in shooting as WSU shot .339 for the game and NC shot .326.

The Bears now take a week off from competition for final examinations, returning to action on Dec. 16 at Texas Tech. Opening tip is scheduled for 1 pm Mountain.