One by one, college basketball teams from all divisions in Colorado have seen their seasons expire over the past two weeks.
Except one.
“Every day a few more teams drop off and we’re still playing,” said Kamie Ethridge, the first-year women’s basketball coach at Northern Colorado.
A memorable season for the Bears marches on, continuing Thursday with a matchup at UCLA in the round of 16 of the WNIT. A 59-58, second-round victory Sunday over South Dakota gave UNC its 22nd win, most in school history.
“To be the only Colorado team that’s still playing, knowing my career isn’t over yet, it’s a big opportunity,” said UNC senior D’shara Strange, a co-player of the year in the Big Sky Conference.
Strange, a 5-foot-10 guard, is perhaps the biggest reason why UNC is still alive. Her 14 points Sunday made Strange the school’s career leader in scoring (1,879). The former Fountain High School standout is also UNC’s all-time leading rebounder and is the Big Sky’s career leader in steals.
She’s had her best season yet under Ethridge, averaging 16.7 points and 9.0 rebounds.
“Ever since I got the job last May, I’ve never not seen her around,” Ethridge said. “She earned my respect from the moment I walked in here because she was doing the work and she was preparing herself for her senior season.”
Strange’s senior season was supposed to have happened last year, but a chondral defect in her knee that required surgery forced her to take a medical redshirt season.
Strange and the Bears got off to a slow start this season but have won 12 of their past 13 games. The only loss in that stretch was in the Big Sky Tournament title game against Montana when UNC lost a 13-point halftime lead.
“Everybody was still sulking and throwing pity parties (after the loss),” Strange said. “And Coach just really got into us and just said, ‘Ultimately we didn’t deserve to go to the NCAAs because we didn’t do what we needed to do. But it’s not over. We can still make history for this program by making a run in the WNIT.’ That was what everybody needed to hear, and after that we got on board.”
In their first-round game, the Bears overcame a second-half deficit to beat Colorado State, the regular-season champion in the Mountain West.
“A signature win for our program,” Ethridge called it.
Then, Strange hit two free throws with 2.6 seconds left to ice the win over South Dakota. Now, the Bears seek another milestone win at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles against the Pac-12’s Bruins.
“To play on John Wooden’s floor,” Strange said, “it’s going to be a great experience and a great game.”
Nick Kosmider: nkosmider@denverpost.com or
