Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
at Northern Colorado
WSU falls to UNC 63-65 for first conference loss
1/9/2016 11:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball
GREELEY, Colo. – Weber State women's basketball team fell 63-65 to Northern Colorado Saturday afternoon which is the Wildcats first conference loss.
Senior Regina Okoye had a new career high of 26 points against the Bears giving her 1,005 career points. She is the 17th athlete in school history to break the 1,000 point milestone.
Okoye broke into another career milestone with her four steals against the Bears. Okoye has become the fourth player in Big Sky Conference history to have 300 or more steals. Okoye has 35 on the season so far and 302 total in her career.
"We got beat at the buzzer by a team that played a great game," head coach Bethann Ord said. "They are hard to guard and made a number of difficult perimeter shots inlcuding the game winner. I'm extremely proud of our team for the way we battled on this challenging road trip and I look forward to seeing how we respond Thursday against Portland State."
The Bears took an early 15-11 lead over the Wildcats in the first quarter but WSU fought back and only trailed by two points at 17-19 going into the second quarter. Northern Colorado maintained the lead for a 30-36 score at half time.
At the end of the third quarter the Wildcats took the lead for the first time in the game with a 46-44 score. Weber State's fourth quarter was the strongest of the game. The Wildcats came out on a 9-2 run for a 55-46 lead over the Bears.
Halfway through the fourth quarter the Bears made a push and brought the score within two points for a 58-60 score. With the score tied at 60-60 with one minute left in the game, after a layup and free throw the Bears took a 63-60 lead with 14 seconds left on the clock.
The Wildcats had the ball and the Bears immediately fouled sending freshman Emily Drake to the line to shoot two. Drake's first free throw went in with ease and she missed the second which was rebounded and put in by Okoye. The game was now tied 63-63 with 11 seconds left on the clock.
Northern Colorado's Savannah Scott let a jumper fly with the clock at one second, the buzzer went off and the ball went in giving the Bears the 65-63 over the Wildcats.
Weber State shot 44.4 from the field, 38.1 from beyond the arc and 77.8 from the free throw line. They had 12 turnovers to UNC's 17. The Bears shot 55.6 from the field, 52.4 from the three and 66.7 from the free throw line.
Northern Colorado out rebounded Weber State 28-26.
Okoye led the Wildcats with a new career high of 26 points and she had the game high of four steals and four assists. Okoye also shot 71 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free throw line. Drake also picked up a career high scoring in double digits for the first time with her 10 points on the night. Deeshyra Thomas also scored in double digits with 13 and had the game high of eight rebounds and four assists.
Weber State is now 10-4 on the season and 2-1 in Big Sky Conference play.
The Wildcats will next return home for three Big Sky games the first of which will be against Portland State on Thursday, January 14 at Noon for the annual Field Trip Day. The Wildcats will take on Sacramento State on January 16 before hosting Idaho State the following Saturday, January 23.
