BOISE, Idaho - The first season of the Tracy Sanders era came to a close on Tuesday evening at the Centurylink Arena in Boise, Idaho, as the No. 10 seeded Thunderbird women's basketball team fell to the No. 2 Bears of Northern Colorado 82-50.  

"From the tip, they had a great advantage on the boards and they were scoring so it really made it hard for us to get in a flow. They're a great team all around and we just didn't have it today," Sanders said after the loss. "I'm proud of the strides we have made. It's been a rocky road trying to create habits and build what we are trying to build, but I'm proud of them. We've come together as a team on and off the court and we are starting to play really well together. Sometimes as things wind down some people want to be done playing and I never got that feeling with these girls."

The Lady T-Birds finished the season 8-22 overall, and 4-16 in Big Sky Conference play. That winning total was a vast improvement from the season before, where SUU had just three victories over the course of the year.

Early on the T-Birds struggled to find any type of momentum, as the Bears jumped out to a 10-2 lead over the No. 10 seed. As the opening quarter wore on the T-Birds were able to get things moving a little better offensively, but still trailed their foes from Greeley 18-10 after the opening 10 minutes of play.

UNC started the second quarter on a 7-0 run, prompting the T-Birds to take a timeout trailing 25-10. The Bears would parlay that into a 13-0 run before SUU was able to stop the bleeding with a pair for Bre Reid free throws. Ultimately the Bears outscored the Thunderbirds 26-7 in the second quarter to take a 44-17 lead into the halftime break.

The T-Birds shot 16 percent in the opening half, and made just one field goal in the second quarter.

After half the T-Birds executed a much improved brand of basketball, and played the Bears to a tie in the third quarter 23-23. SUU shot 63 percent from the field in the third quarter and 50 percent from three. SUU trailed 67-40 after the third frame concluded.

UNC was able to close out the contest in the final 10 minutes, moving on in the tournament bracket with the victory.

Jessica Chatman led the T-Birds offensively on the evening, finishing with 12 points. She also secured a double-double with 12 rebounds in 37 minutes of action.

Harley Hansen and Ashley Larsen both finished the contest with 10 points on the board.

Savannah Smith led the Bears in scoring on the night, dropping in 23 points.

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