POOR SHOOTING PLAGUES WOMEN'S HOOPS IN LOSS AT NORTHERN COLORADO

1/31/2007

GREELEY, Colo. - Sacramento State visited Northern Colorado for the first time in its Division I program history, and left Butler-Hancock Pavilion suffering a 70-45 loss to the Bears on Wednesday night in Big Sky Conference action.

Sacramento State (3-18, 1-6) drops to ninth in the Big Sky standings, while Northern Colorado (5-16, 2-7) jumps to the eighth position.

Sophomore forward Jourdan Willard led the Hornets with 11 points, while senior guard Kim Sheehy added 10. Once again Sacramento State''s shooting woes put the team behind. The Hornets shot just 29.1 percent from the floor, and while trying to put a dent in the Bears'' double-digit second-half lead, knocked down just one of their 10 attempted three-pointers.

The Bears'' duo of Heather Barbour and Whitley Cox capitalized on Sacramento State''s miscues. A 7-of-10 performance from the floor and a flawless 8-of-8 effort from the free-throw line earned Barbour a game-high 24 points. Cox complimented Barbour with 21 points on a 10-of-15 shooting night. She also fell just one rebound short of a double-double with nine rebounds.

As a team, Northern Colorado shot 51.0 percent from the floor, including 45.5 percent from beyond the arc. The Bears also outrebounded Sacramento State 42-27.

The game was back-and-forth for the majority of the first half, with Northern Colorado taking no larger than a five-point lead prior to the 5:00 mark. In fact, with 4:59 left in the first, a Sheehy three-pointer tied the game, 26-26, for the fifth time.

In the next three minutes, the game hit a fast pace, allowing the Bears to score on 3-of-5 possessions, while the Hornets missed on four straight field goal attempts. Northern Colorado''s seven-point lead quickly jumped to double-digits after buckets from Cox and Bailey Dillon.

To end the half, Sacramento State was held scoreless for the final two minutes, while the Bears sank 3-of-4 free-throw attempts, heading to the locker room ahead 41-28.

Barbour did most of her damage in the second half to keep the Hornets from getting back in the game, scoring 18 of her 24 points in the final 20 minutes. While Barbour helped extend the Bears'' lead, Sacramento State shot a dismal 6-of-27 (22.2 percent) in an unsuccessful attempt to cut the lead to single digits.

The game was the final of a five-game road swing for Sacramento State, its second longest of the year. The Hornets will return to the Nest for the first time in nearly four weeks to host Idaho State at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday. The game can be followed a live video feed on www.bigskytv.org. A free live audio broadcast is available on www.hornetsports.com.