POCATELLO, Idaho — Northern Colorado advanced to within one victory of playing in its first-ever NCAA Tournament with a 51-43 victory Friday night over Montana State in a Big Sky Tournament semifinal.
The Bears (20-10), seeded second in the tournament, will play No. 1 seed Idaho State, which beat Sacramento State 70-57 in the other semifinal, today in the championship.
Lauren Oosdyke scored 16 points and D’shara Strange added 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead UNC. Kim Lockridge scored 12 points.
UNC struggled from the field, hitting just 34.1 percent, but held Montana State (19-11) to 27.1 percent.
The Bears’ big advantage came at the free-throw line, making 22-of-31, compared with 7-of-8 for Montana State.
Metro State 58, Minnesota Duluth 47 •WAYNE, Neb. — The 10th-ranked and No. 2 seed Roadrunners (26-3) cruised to a victory to advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Central Regional.
Metro State will face No. 3 seed Fort Lewis today.
The Roadrunners held the Bulldogs (18-10) to 25.7 percent shooting from the field.
It was the eighth time this season Metro State held an opponent to less than 30 percent.
Caley Dow led the Roadrunners with 19 points and eight rebounds to go with a career-high four blocked shots, helping Metro to a season-high 12 blocks, two shy of a school record.
Fort Lewis 69, Mary (N.D.) 58 •WAYNE, Neb. — Dana Schreibvogel scored 16 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and came up with four steals to lead the 12th-ranked Skyhawks (26-4) past the Marauders (19-10).
Starting guards Ashley Kuchar and Katerina Garcia got hot in the second half for Fort Lewis, finishing with 13 and 12 points, respectively, to break open a 25-25 game.
Kuchar went 3-of-6 from behind the arc, while Garcia was 3-for-5.
Augustana (S.D.) 82, CSU-Pueblo 76 •WAYNE, Neb. — Kendall Babler scored 19 points and Erica Hicks added 16 for the Thunderwolves (21-7) in the loss.
Denver Post staff and wire services
