Women’s Basketball Gets Revenge on Northern Colorado

In the third game of the season, the Coyotes women’s basketball team took on the Northern Colorado Bears, a rematch from last year that the Bears won 72-65.

The match started with the Coyotes’ sophomore center Walker Demers hitting two free throws and making a layup to put the Coyotes up 4-0 with 7:22 left in the first quarter.

The Bears tied the game up at four at the 6:29 mark of the quarter after senior forward Delaynie Byrne hit a shot inside the paint. 

Following the Byrne basket, the Coyotes ended the quarter on a 18-7 run as junior forward Alexi Hempe scored seven of the Coyotes points. This run put the Coyotes ahead 22-11 going into the second quarter. 

Northern Colorado scored first after senior guard Hannah Simental hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead into single digits. 

The Coyotes answered right back as redshirt sophomore center Natalie Mazurek hit a jumper to push back to double digits and put the Coyotes ahead 24-14 with 8:58 left in the second quarter. 

After the teams traded baskets, the Coyotes went on a 12-8 run to end the quarter. The Coyotes were led by senior forward Tori DePerry as she scored eight of the Coyotes points during the run. 

The Coyotes went into the half with a 37-22 lead over Northern Colorado. 

The Bears came out of the half and went on a run of their own as they outscored the Coyotes 6-2 in the first four minutes of the match. The Coyotes still lead 39-28.

For the rest of the quarter, the Coyote defense held the Bears to only two made baskets as they only scored five more points. On the offensive side, the Coyotes scored 12 more points to end the quarter ahead by 18 (51-33). This was their largest lead of the match. 

For the third straight quarter, the Bears started with two baskets both from sophomore guard Gabi Fields to cut the Coyotes’ lead down to 14. 

Following the Fields’ baskets, the Coyotes’ junior guard Kendall Holmes and the Bears’ freshman forward Tatum West traded baskets with West cutting the lead down to 55-42. 

After the teams once again traded baskets, the Coyotes’ junior guard Nicole Avila-Ambrosi cashed in a layup at the 3:25 mark in the fourth quarter which extended the Coyotes lead back up to 18.

Northern Colorado cut the lead back down to 13 after going on 6-1 led by West and redshirt junior guard Seneca Hackley each scoring three points. 

The Coyotes’ defense stood tall and did not allow the Bears to cut the lead any lower than 13 points. 

After two free throws made by the Bears at the 21 second mark, the Coyotes secured their second victory on the season defeating the Bears 72-59. This was the Coyotes 100th win inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. 

As a team, the Bears shot 35.4% (23-65) from the field, 11.1% (2-18) from 3-point range and 64.7% (11-17) from the free throw line. 

They were led by Byrne with 15 points on 6-14 shooting while also leading the team in rebounds with 12. 

Following Byrne in double-digit scoring were West with 12 and Fields with 10. 

As for the Coyotes, they shot 42.9% (24-56) from field goal range, 22.2% (4-18) from deep and 80.0% (20-25) from the free throw line. 

Junior guard Grace Larkins led the Coyotes in scoring with a season high of 17 points while shooting 5-10 from the field and going a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. She also had team highs in seven rebounds and five assists. 

Two other Coyotes reached double figures in scoring as DePerry scored 15 points and Mazurek tying her career high with 10 points. 

Mazurek also grabbed a career high six rebounds and blocked a career high of two shots. 

Following the win, the Coyotes record moves to 2-1 on the season with their next matchup being against DePaul. This match will be on Nov. 18 at 6:30 p.m. a part of the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Following the game with DePaul, the Coyotes will either play Michigan or Middle Tennessee on Nov. 19.