Julia Riley can shoot the ball for the Northern Colorado women’s basketball team, and the transfer guard shoots the ball from a long distance from the basket.
“Julia kind of caught fire, and that’s what good shooters do,” Bears coach Kristen Mattio said after UNC’s 59-51 Big Sky Conference home win over Idaho State. “Once they see one go through the net, I think they see it’s an ocean and every shot’s going to jump in after that.”
Riley, a 6-foot-1 junior lefty from Granite Bay, California and California State University Bakersfield, scored 11 of her 14 points in the Bears’ 24-point second quarter Monday night to lead a UNC comeback at Bank of Colorado Arena.
Coming into the game off the bench, Riley was 4 of 6 from the floor, all from 3-point range, and she grabbed nine rebounds in one of her better performances in a UNC jersey. Riley played her first two college seasons at CSU Bakersfield where she averaged 1.9 points as a freshman and 6.4 points last year.
Riley’s 14 points is her highest point total against a Division I opponent this season, and her 66.7% on 3s is one of Riley’s highest of the year. Riley scored a season-high 17 points in late November against NAIA Central Christian College of Kansas.
Northern Colorado junior guard Julia Riley takes a shot over Idaho State’s Kacey Spink during a Big Sky Conference game on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 at Bank of Colorado Arena. Riley scored 14 points on 4 of 5 shooting from 3-point range in UNC’s 59-51 win. (UNC Athletics)The Bears (3-7 Big Sky, 10-11 overall) started the game on a 7-2 run, but didn’t score in the final 6-minutes, 20 seconds of the first quarter. The Bengals (3-7, 8-13) outscored UNC 10-0 the rest of the quarter for a 12-7 lead.
UNC chipped away and chipped away to get back into the game in the second quarter. Guard London Gamble tied the game at 31-31 on a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left before halftime.
Riley did her part too. She hit three of her 3s in the second quarter, the Bears went 5 of 10 from behind the line with freshman guard Neenah George also hitting one of her 3s in the quarter.
Riley said on one of the 3s, either Gabi Fields or Silvia Nativi set an effective flare screen to create space for Riley to take a shot.
“Like coach said, when a shooter sees the ball go in it’s like, ‘OK, I know the next one is going in and I know the next one is going in,’” Riley said. “I shoot it like I’m confident. I have to give my teammates credit. They look for me and they get me open.”
UNC made 47% of its 3s (8 of 17) against the Bengals while shooting 40% from the field overall (21-52).
Mattio said Idaho State’s defense was set up to sit in the paint, take away easy baskets and forced the Bears to score from the perimeter.
Riley, Gamble and George combined for the eight made 3s. Gamble and George each made two. Gamble was 2 of 3 in scoring a team-high 16 points. George was 2 of 4 on 3-pointers while scoring a career-high 14 points in a career-best 23-minutes minutes played.
“I want to win,” George. “Whatever I can do to win, coach puts me out there, she’s confident in me, so I want to go out there and do what I can do to win every game.”
Forward Aniah Hall scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
University of Northern Colorado junior London Gamble, right, hits a jump shot against Idaho on Jan. 23 at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Riley’s 30 minutes was her season high and was a game high for UNC. She and George both played more significant minutes against the Bengals than in previous games. The Bears mixed up their lineup during stretches of the game with starters Hall and forward Tatum West on the bench. Eleven UNC players played at least two minutes against ISU.
West, the team’s leading scorer, played only 10 minutes against ISU and did not score for the first time this season. She’s averaging 9.7 points and 26.7 minutes per game, which is second only to Fields.
Riley is now averaging 16.3 minutes per game and George is averaging 15.
The game against Idaho State was UNC’s second game in an eight-day stretch. The UNC men’s team is in the same situation. Both teams played Saturday afternoon. The women lost to Northern Arizona on the road. The men beat NAU at home. The UNC men played at Idaho State on Monday night and won 86-72.
The men return to Bank of Colorado Arena for games Thursday and Saturday against Montana and Montana State, respectively. The women’s team leaves Wednesday for games at Montana and Montana State.
Mattio said at this point in the season, with the four games in eight days, the Bears will have to rely on depth in the roster.
“Some of those young ones are chomping at the bit, and we’re trying to do everything we can to get them out there on the court,” Mattio said. “They’re slowly getting better throughout the season, so they’re continuing to stay in the gym and working.”
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