Solid Second Half Lifts Bobcat Women to Win at Northern Colorado

Thursday, January 16

Greeley, CO

7 p.m.

Montana State University

9-5, 4-1BSC

University of Northern Colorado

8-7, 2-4BSC

Montana State

Northern Colorado

Sophomore Jasmine Hommes had a team-high 18 points in MSU's win over Northern Colorado on Thursday night.

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

Solid Second Half Lifts Bobcat Women to Win at Northern Colorado

1/16/2014 10:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Montana State scored eleven unanswered points early in the second half and never looked back, en route to a 68-55 win over Northern Colorado, Thursday night in Butler-Hancock Pavilion.

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State scored eleven unanswered points early in the second half and never looked back, en route to a 68-55 win over Northern Colorado, Thursday night in Butler-Hancock Pavilion.

Trailing by four points two minutes into the second stanza, five different Bobcat players recorded baskets, before a pair of Jasmine Hommes free throws with sixteen-minutes, four-seconds remaining gave Montana State (9-5, 4-1) a 38-31 advantage.

Northern Colorado (8-7, 2-4) chopped the lead to five points on a couple of occasions, but the Bobcats closed the door taking its largest lead of the contest at 68-54 with over a minute left.

MSU's second half was sparked by sophomore Jasmine Hommes, who notched 16 points and four rebounds in the final twenty-minutes. Kalli Durham and Ashley Brumwell chipped in nine and six second-half points, respectively as MSU shot an impressive 59 percent from the field down the stretch.

"That was a solid second half," said Bobcat head coach Tricia Binford. "We really did a great job sticking to the game plan defensively, and attacking with more ball movement."

Hommes finished with a team-high 18 points, connecting on seven-of-10 from the field. Brumwell poured in 17 points, while adding ten rebounds for her second consecutive double-double. Durham was also in double-digits with 13 points, while hauling down seven rebounds.

"Ashley had an incredible game," Binford said. "Jasmine came on in the second half, Kalli hit big shots and Ausha (Cole) established the defense.

"Our bench came in and took us up another notch, as well," Binford said. "I think the bench has been a key to us finding ways for us to separate."

Redshirt-freshman Margreet Barhoum sparked the Bobcat pine with six points on a pair of 3-pointers, while dishing out four assists. Cole finished with a game and season-high eight assists.

The Bobcats defense limited the Bears to just 5 percent (1-19) from beyond the arc and 30 percent from the field.

UNC was led by Stephanie Lee with 24 points, sixteen of which came from the free throw line.

Montana State will play at North Dakota on Saturday at 1 p.m. (MST). UND sits atop the Big Sky Conference standings with a 6-0 record following its win over Montana on Thursday night.