Women’s basketball drops final game

The UNC women's basketball team's season ended on a sour note Saturday night at the Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion when it lost to the Montana Lady Griz, 63-60.

With the loss, the University of Northern Colorado ended its season at 14-16, 6-10 in the Big Sky, while Montana improved to 15-13 and 10-6, clinching the second seed in the Big Sky Conference Tournament.

"We've been able to play with all the teams," UNC junior guard Courtney Stoermer said.  "It's just unfortunate that we couldn't put wins together earlier in the conference."

Stoermer scored 17 points for the Bears, while senior guards Whitley Cox and Lizzie Cooper added 14 and three points, respectively.

"Whitley's been an offensive staple for us since day one," head coach Jaime White said. "They've (Cox and Cooper) really seen our transition as a program."

UNC found itself down one with 21 seconds to play, but a missed layup by redshirt freshman forward Lauren Oosdyke sealed the Bears' fate.

The game started off very slow for both teams. The pace was lethargic, but a 3-pointer by Stoermer put UNC on top, 13-12, with 10:42 left in the first half.

Montana took control of the game en route to a 25-20 lead, but another 3-pointer by Stoermer cut the lead to two, 25-23, with just under four minutes in the half.

Junior forward Jayne Strand put in a layup at the buzzer to leave UNC down only three at halftime, 30-27.

In the first half, the Bears only managed 31-percent shooting from the field, and neither team made more than nine field goals.

UNC came out in the second hard against Montana's size. With 12:57 to play, the game was tied at 40.

The Lady Griz went on a 7-0 run over the next three minutes to take a 47-40 midway through the second half.

"They're big; they're tall; and they're strong," White said.  "They held their positioning well inside, and it was tough to get around them and attack the basket."

The Bears, again, battled back, going on a 10-0 run of their own to take a 53-51 lead with 5:44 left in the game before faltering late.

This was the last game for Cox and Cooper, who were in the program for four and three years, respectively.

"I'll really miss these girls a lot," Cox said. "We've been through a lot together, and I don't know of any other people that have had my back like them."