Cedar City, Utah - In their final non-conference matchup of the season the Lady T-Birds defeated the Bristol University Bears 99–37.

“Today we needed to maintain our focus and for the most part they did that,” SUU head coach Chris Boettcher said about his team's performance. “The players were confident, excited, executed relatively well and with our rebounding advantage and the opportunity to get some second chance points off of rebounds and points off of turnovers gave us an opportunity to open it up and then build on it from there.”

The bench was huge for the Thunderbirds on Monday night, as they outscored the Bears bench 64–2. SUU forward Jessica Richardson, who started the contest, said she was excited to see the bench perform so well.

“It's just fun to see them get in the game, be confident and hit the shots that they're used to hitting,” she said.

Right from the start the Thunderbirds were in control, jumping out on a 7–0 run to start the game. The Bears found some offensive momentum in the first quarter, but the Thunderbirds continued to exert their dominance taking a 27–9 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.

Midway through the second quarter the Thunderbirds embarked on an 18–0 run, pulling away from Bristol. SUU had a 55–17 lead at the halftime break.

Freshman Tiffany Dunlap led the team at the half in scoring, putting in three triples to score nine points. Darri Frandsen, Ashleigh Munns and Taylor Baird all scored eight points in the first 20 minutes.

The T-Birds continued to control the contest after the halftime break, outscoring the Bears 20–12 in the third quarter. They were able to close out the Bears in the fourth quarter, only allowing them to score eight points, and took the contest by a final 99–37.  

Frandsen finished with a game high 20 points and completed a double-double by pulling in 14 rebounds. She finished the game shooting nine-of-14 from the field. Sarah McGee was second on the team in scoring with 13 and Dunlap dropped in 12. Munns, Baird and Richardson all finished with 10 points.

Frandsen said the team just came out, played their game and had a good time.

“It felt great,” she said. “We were just running up and down, my teammates found me and it was a lot of fun.”

The Bears only played with six players on Monday night but they didn't stop competing, which Boettcher said he has a lot of respect for.

“I was really impressed with their toughness and they didn't quit, they just kept playing and playing, and it was good for us because it kept us focused on getting stops and being intense on defense,” he said.

The T-Birds will start Big Sky Conference play on Thursday afternoon against the Montana State Bobcats.

Updates for that game can be followed on Twitter @SUUGameday.

The Thunderbirds will play their first Big Sky game at home against Eastern Washington on January 14th. Tickets can be purchased online at tbirdtickets.com or at the Centrum Ticket Office.