GREELEY, Colo. - The Southern Utah women's basketball team picked up their fifth-win in a row Thursday night as they beat Northern Colorado 70-63 in Greeley.
The Thunderbirds are now 8-4 overall and 3-2 in Big Sky play on the season.
Cherita Daugherty was the leading scorer for the Thunderbirds with 19 points on 88.9 percent shooting (8-for-9 FG). Darri Frandsen had another double-double scoring 12 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Margarita Satini had a career-high 13 points on 83.3 percent shooting (5-for-6 FG).
As a team, the Thunderbirds shot 44.4 percent from the floor, outrebounded the Bears 41-36, and outscored Northern Colorado in the paint 44-26.
Southern Utah led for 24:43 in this one, but it didn't come easy. After building a seven point lead in the first quarter, the Thunderbirds allowed the Bears to cut it down to just one with 7:36 remaining in the half. Back-to-back buckets from Madelyn Eaton and Daugherty would push that lead back out to five with 4:24 to go.
The Bears would go on to take their first lead of the game at the 1:11 mark on a three-pointer from Alexis Chapman, but Daugherty answered right back with a three of her own and the T-Birds went into halftime with a 35-34 lead.
The lead changed three more times over the first four minutes of the second half until UNC was able to put together back-to-back baskets for a five-point lead. The Thunderbirds were able to cut it down to one, but couldn't get the lead back and eventually would go into the final quarter down 47-50.
With 6:44 remaining in the game, the Bears held a 56-51 lead, but Southern Utah strung together a 7-0 run behind the efforts of Daugherty, Satini, and Eaton to swing the score in their favor and go up 58-56. A three-pointer from Satini and an easy layup from Eaton would push the SUU lead all the way to six-points with under a minute to play.
The Thunderbirds would go 5-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to close out the 70-63 victory.
The two teams will face off once again on Saturday in Greeley at noon.
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