Women's Basketball Gameday: Lady Bears at Colorado College New Year's Ball

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Winners of seven of their last eight and riding a four-game winning streak, the Lady Bears (7-3) will close out 2013 and ring in 2014 competing in the New Year's Ball hosted by Colorado College. In addition to competing for the first time in the state of Colorado, the Lady Bears will experience playing at a high altitude with Colorado Springs sitting 6,035 feet above sea level.

Tuesday, December 31 at 3 p.m. (EST) vs. University of Northwestern (Minn.)
Wednesday, January 1 at 3 p.m. (EST) vs. University of Wisconsin-Stout

Live Coverage

Pay-per-view video for both games will be available at http://cctigers.com/showcase/ and live stats available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/cc/wbball/.

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Series History

This will be the first meeting for the Lady Bears against both Northwestern (Minn.) and Wisconsin-Stout.

The Lady Bear Facts

Last time out: The Lady Bears defeated sibling rivals St. Joseph's College (L.I.) for the first time in five years, 54-40. Taylor Raccuglia had a career night recording her second double-double of the season, leading the Lady Bears with 15 points. Raccuglia racked up 19 rebounds and five blocks, falling one short in both categories from tying the Lady Bears single-game record.

Kelly McNamee continues her outstanding senior campaign leading three Lady Bears averaging double digit scoring with 12.8 points per game. Raccuglia follows with 10.9 points also grabbing 8.3 caroms and team-leading 2.0 blocks. Samantha Retas averages a double-double with 10.4 points and 11.4 rebounds and has recorded four double-doubles this season.

About Northwestern

Last time out: The Eagles picked up a 72-69 overtime victory over Luther College on December 13th. Northwestern used two free throws scored with 0.1 seconds left on the clock, and nine overtime points to earn their sixth win of the season. The Eagles were led by Jessica Fife who led all scorers with 19 points while securing 20 rebounds.

Northwestern comes into today's game having alternated wins and losses over their last six games after beginning the season 3-0. The Eagles, picked second in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference preseason coaches' poll, use the three-point shot to their advantage as they average 9.4 makes per game and shoot 35.4 percent from beyond the arc.

Leading Northwestern on the offensive end of the floor is Mollie Sir, a one-time UMAC Player of the Week and a member of last season's All-Conference first team, who leads the team averaging 15.6 points per game and shoots 39.2 percent from downtown. Chanel Madson, a First Team All-Conference selection a year ago, adds 15.3 points per game hitting 35.5 percent of her shots from long distance.

Jessica Fife, the two-time UMAC Player of the Week, provides a post presence for the Eagles averaging a double-double with 14.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game along with 4.1 assists per game.

About Wisconsin-Stout

Last time out: The Blue Devils suffered a 67-52 setback to Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe UW-River Falls on December 11th. Pacing Wisconsin-Stout was Sami Schoeder who had a team-high 13 points in a losing effort.

The Blue Devils come into today's action having lost six of their last seven games after starting the season 2-1. Wisconsin-Stout, picked eighth in the WIAC preseason coaches' poll, uses a balanced approach with no player averaging double figures in points.

Pacing the Blue Devils offense is Shelby Sterba who is averaging a team-high 9.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Also providing contributions is Kyleigh Hebert who drops in 9.6 points per night and dishes out a team-high 2.3 assists per game.

Sami Schroeder has stepped up her play in conference action averaging a team-high 12.0 points per game to raise her scoring average to 9.5 points per game.

About the hosts Colorado College

With an enrollment of approximately 2000 undergraduate students, Colorado College sponsors 17 varsity sports, two of which are Division I (men's ice hockey, women's soccer). The Division III sports compete in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) while men's ice hockey competes in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and women's soccer competes in Conference USA and captured the C-USA title this year, nearly pulling off an upset of Duke in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

The Tigers are proud to compete in sparkling new facility which underwent a $27 million dollar renovation and expansion completed spring of 2013.

Team Comparison

Lady Bears	Nickname	Eagles	Blue Devils
7-3 (1-0)	Record	6-3 (0-0)	3-7 (1-2)
HVIAC	Conference	UMAC	WIAC
Roster | Schedule | Statistics	Team Info	Roster | Schedule | Statistics	Roster | Schedule | Statistics
Kelly McNamee (12.8)	Top Pts.	Mollie Sir (15.6)	Courtney Collins (16.3)
Samantha Retas (11.0)	Top Reb.	Jessica Fife (7.0)	Danita Whitaker (12.0)
Kristin D'Chiutiis (3.9)	Top Ast.	Jessica Fife (4.1)	Kenya Wilkerson (6.0)
61.6 (-2.6)	Scoring	67.0 (-0.9)	65.0 (-5.1)
38.7%	FG %	37.4%	36.9%
67.3%	FT %	80.0%	63.0%
25.6%	3FG %	35.4%	18.9%
46.6 (+1.8)	Rebounds	38.1 (-3.3)	43.7 (+2.2)
14.6	Assists	13.1	10.1
24.6 (-9.6)	Turnovers	17.1 (-2.4)	20.9 (+2.1)
6.0	Steals	7.1	11.8
4.8	Blocks	2.0	2.8