Cedar City, Utah - Three Thunderbirds combined for 50 points on Tuesday afternoon as the women's basketball team claimed their first victory of the season from Cal State University Northridge 67-65.  Junior Jessica Richardson poured in 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead SUU in both categories to improve SUU's record on the year to 1-6 on the young season.  Teammates Taylor Baird and Breanu Reid both scored 12 points each to make a terrific trio of scoring.

Some great bench play and clutch free throw shooting played big roles in the tough win for Southern Utah.  

After a slow start by the home team, the SUU bench dropped in eight points in the second quarter to trigger a comeback and start what would become a 25-point bench scoring spree.  

“I think the bench did really well this game, especially at the beginning when the starters had a little bit of a rough start,” said Richardson.  “That was very important to us.”

Baird made 6-8 from the free throw line and her teammates shot over 80% from the stripe (29-36), including two pressure packed shots with three seconds left in the game to seal the victory by Jamie Smith.

“Jamie is clutch at the free throw line,” said head coach Chris Boettcher.  “Her and Ashleigh (Munns), I have no question at all when they are up at the free throw line shooting.”

CSUN stole the ball within seconds of the opening tip to go down and score an easy basket and take the lead 2-0.  Some cold shooting by the Thunderbirds combined with solid Matador defense allowed the visitors to jump out to a 7-0 lead.

“Something in the first half didn't allow us to get off to a good start, whether we were over-thinking . . . putting too much pressure on ourselves, or lack of execution that caused us to get off to such a slow start,” said Boettcher.  “But I'm proud of how they responded in the second quarter to fight back and maintain.”

Taylor Baird put the Lady Thunderbirds on the board with a little spin move just over four minutes into the game.  The Northridge defense continued to convert turnovers into points in the first period going ahead 12-3 on a pair of free throws by Serafina Maulupe.

Ashleigh Munns buried a three-pointer late in the quarter and the Thunderbird defense stole the ball but couldn't convert on the possession.  SUU had just six points and six turnovers at the end of the first period.  The home team only managed to make 11% of their field goal attempts in the first period.

Jessica Richardson opened the second quarter scoring with a free throw and then a field goal.  She followed up with an offensive rebound on her missed free throw and buried another shot to cut the lead to two points.  The Thunderbirds tied it at 13 with a steal and lay up, while holding the Matadors scoreless over the first three minutes of the second quarter.

Richardson said the loud group of elementary school students in the Centrum really made a difference, “Yes, that was awesome.  We were so happy that they came.  That definitely helped a lot.  The energy that we felt from them and just how loud it was.  It was awesome to have them here.”

The Thunderbirds continued to struggle with cold shooting despite finding open jump shots from the perimeter.  But Sarah McGee put in an easy fast break basket to bring Southern Utah to within four points just three minutes before half time.  Back to back steals by the Thunderbirds helped shut down the Matador offense right before intermission and allowed Jessica Richardson to go to the free throw line for a pair of charity tosses to cut the lead to two points.

Maren Herrud also attacked the basket to draw a foul and bury a pair of free throws to keep the deficit at two points.  Breanu Reid drove the length of the floor and put up a shot at the buzzer to tie it but saw it bounce off and her team went into the locker room down two 25-23.  Southern Utah ran up 17 points in the second quarter to make the come back and entered halftime with the momentum in the game.

Breanu Reid opened the second half scoring with a steal and a layup to tie the score at 25.  Teammate Jamie Smith did the same to give SUU their first lead of the afternoon 27-25.   Munns got things going from long range for SUU with the first three of the second half.

Richardson found Donna Koerber with a nice bounce pass for an easy two points to take back the lead.  Baird nailed a pair of three throws to extend the SUU lead to 39-36.  Baird continued to pour in points from the free throw line, making three trips to the stripe in the third quarter, shooting 5-6 from the line and scoring nine points in the quarter.

Baird explained today's performance, “We're at the point now where we just need to say we're gonna get this and we're gonna do it, and that's what we did today. We just decided that we were going to win a game and we did.”

Boettcher said, “We came out and had a great third quarter and had a great talk at halftime and they came out with the energy they needed to put the game away.”

The Thunderbirds held a 12 point lead to open the fourth quarter, 51-39, after outscoring the visiting Matadors by 14 during the ten-minute period.  Breanu Reid opened the final period scoring with the three-point play to give her team a 15 point advantage.  She followed that up with a second three-point play to maintain the double-digit lead.

After a lengthy delay with an issue at the scorer's table, some hot three point shooting by the Matadors got them back within six points with just over five minutes left in regulation.  A layup and a pair of free throws by Lindsay Neuner continued to close the gap for the visitors.  CSUN held a one point lead at 63-62 with 1:49 on the clock when Baird made a free throw to tie the score.

A blocked shot by Baird led to an SUU possession where Reid stepped to the line and made two free throws to give SUU a two point lead.  An acrobatic layup by Maulupe at the other end knotted the score at 65.

Munns missed a shot to break the tie with 11 seconds left and CSUN grabbed the rebound and called timeout. Smith stole an inbounds pass and was immediately fouled and sent to the line. She walked the length of the floor and made both shots to seal her team's victory.  A desperation 70-foot shot by the Matadors fell short for the final score 67-65.