Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Northern Colorado
Strong Second Half Carries WSU to Win Over Bears
1/9/2010 4:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
OGDEN, Utah -- The Wildcats were back where they feel comfortable on Friday night and it showed as the Weber State women's basketball team used a strong second half down Northern Colorado 61-52.
The Wildcats were playing their first game at the Dee Events Center in nearly a month. After defeating BYU at home back on Dec. 9, Weber State has contested its last six games on the road, and went 1-5 on the road swing.
On Friday night, Northern Colorado got out to an early lead behind the play of Whitley Cox, who scored 12 of her team-high 15 points in the first half. The Bears led by five points with 1:21 left in the opening period, but a three-pointer by Caitlin Anderson and a steal and layup by Sarah Conner in the last minute tied the game at 28-28 at the break.
In the second half, the Wildcats began to pull away. The 'Cats used a 12-4 run to open the half to take a 40-32 lead with 16:34 to play, but a 10-2 run by the Bears knotted the game at 42-all with just under 12 minutes left.
From there, Weber State took control. The Wildcats put up another run, this time a 16-4 burst, which was highlighted by treys from sisters Ali and Abby Thorderson. Abby's three put the 'Cats ahead by eight with 8:29 to play, while Ali's came the 5:45 mark to give WSU a 56-46 advantage. Tonya Schnibbe capped the run with a pair of free throws to put Weber State ahead by 12 with 3:37 remaining.
The Wildcats pulled away behind a strong defensive effort and by dominating the paint on the offensive end. WSU posted a 14-3 advantage in points off turnovers in the second half, and outscored the Bears in the paint 18-6 after the Bears had put up a 12-4 margin inside over the first 20 minutes of the game. WSU also outshot Northern Colorado 44.8 percent to 24 percent in the second half after allowing 50 percent shooting by the Bears in the first half.
Anderson led all scorers with 16 points, which came on 7 of 11 shooting from the field. She also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Schnibbe added 10 points and finished one assist shy of a double-double with nine assists. Tonya was honored at halftime for becoming the school's all-time assist leader against Wyoming back on Dec. 18 in Laramie, Wyo.
O'Neill led the Wildcat charge inside, scoring 8 of her 10 points during the second half. She also added five rebounds and a game-high three blocked shots. O'Neill's production came in only 11 minutes of game time, eight of which came in the second half.
Lauren Oosdyke added 14 points and nine rebounds for Northern Colorado, while Courtney Stoermer chipped in with 11 points. Brittany Fernandez pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for the Bears.
Weber State moves to 7-9 overall and 1-2 in the Big Sky, while Northern Colorado falls to 8-7 overall and an even 1-1 in conference play.
The Wildcats will be back in action tomorrow night as they host Northern Arizona at 7:00 p.m.
