UNC womens’ basketball downs Weber State on the road, 73-60

Weber State’s mascot is the wildcat for a reason. The home team made things wild for the University of Northern Colorado women’s basketball team on Monday night.

UNC (11-12, 4-8 Big Sky) defeated Weber State (5-17, 1- 9 Big Sky), 73- 60, in its best offensive performance of the conference schedule and the best since scoring 72 points against South Dakota in December.

The Bears jumped out to a strong lead in the first half, limiting the Cats to 18 points, while racking up 33 of their own. From offense to defense, the team outperformed the Cats in just about every statistic.

Weber State’s offense started to heat up after the break and the Northern Colorado defense couldn’t quite stop it as effectively. In fact, the Wildcats were down by as many as 17 points but trimmed the Bears’ lead to just eight points twice.

Still, UNC continued to have an answer on the offensive end, thanks to double digit scoring from three players. Junior Delaynie Byrne finished with 23 points, just one off her career high.

After struggling for weeks to get shots to fall, it was the kind of game it needed. The defense wasn’t perfect the entire way, but it put together a performance it can learn from.

Northern Colorado continues its week on the road Thursday. It plays at 7 p. m. against Portland State.

• Delaynie Byrne: 23 PTS, 8 REB, 1 AST

• Hannah Simental: 16 PTS, 3 REB, 5 AST

• Averee Kleinhans: 14 PTS, 6 AST, 3 STL

• UNC shooting: 23- 47 FG, 6-16 3FG, 21-26 FT

• UNC other: 30 REB (4 OREB), 15 AST, 7 STL, 4 BLK, 20 PF, 13 TO

• Weber State shooting: 23-61 FG, 5-14 3FG, 9-15 FT

• Weber State other: 33 REB (13 OREB), 12 AST, 5 STL, 6 BLK, 25 PF, 14 TO

ALEX MCINTYRE — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Northern Colorado forward Delaynie Byrne (12) shoots during the Northern Colorado Bears women’s basketball game against the Idaho State Bengals in Bank of Colorado Arena at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley Dec. 31, 2022. The Bears fell to the Bengals 63-42.