Strange, Lee Too Much for Bobcat Women

Thursday, February 12

BOZEMAN

7 p.m.

Montana State University

10-13, 4-8BSC

University of Northern Colorado

12-11, 6-6BSC

Team	1	2	F
Northern Colorado	40	44	84
Montana State	25	38	63

Senior Kalli Durham

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

2/12/2015 9:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

“We had 20-minutes of effort and you need forty,” Binford said. “We need to be better than that, and we need to be tougher than that.”

By: Tom Schulz

Northern Colorado seniors D'Shara Strange and Stephanie Lee combined for 56 points and 21 rebounds to lift the Bears to an 84-63 win over Montana State, Thursday night in Worthington Arena.

Strange finished with a career-high 31 points and added 17 rebounds. In all, the Fountain, Colorado product connected on 14-of-17 from the field. Lee ended with 25 points on ten-of-15 from the floor. Northern Colorado (12-11, 6-6) shot 56 percent as a team.

"We didn't have an answer for them," MSU Head Coach Tricia Binford said. "They were two seniors who stepped-up and made plays."

Leading 22-19 at the 7:19 mark of the opening stanza, the Bears rattled off a 14-2 run and took a 40-25 advantage into intermission.

Montana State (10-13, 4-8) closed the margin to eight points on four occasions in the second period, the last coming at the 5:04 mark on a Jasmine Hommes layup, but would get no closer as Northern Colorado closed out the contest on a 16-3 run.

"We had 20-minutes of effort and you need forty," Binford said. "We need to be better than that, and we need to be tougher than that."

The Bobcats had three players in double-figures led by Hommes with 18 points. Also in double-digits were Kalli Durham 13 and Lindsay Stockton 10. Stockton also finished with four assists and six rebounds. Also pulling down six boards for MSU were Jackie Elliott and Alexa Dawkins.

The Bobcats shot 35 percent from the field in the opening half and ended the game hitting at a 41 percent clip. UNC held a 36-30 advantage under the boards.

Montana State will host North Dakota on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Worthington Arena. The game is designated as 'Pack the Place in Pink' and co-sponsored with Bozeman OB GYN – Billings Clinic. The event will financially support breast cancer patients in the community and raise breast cancer awareness.