Big Sky Big Timer: Sade Cunnigham

Another weekend down and the picture is still as murky as ever. PSU and UM are still within a half-game of each other at the top of the standings and the other 7 teams are still fighting it out for third place, all within one game of each other. Sac State, ISU, NAU, and Weber State all had nice home stands and made up some ground, while EWU and NCU fell out of prime position with goose eggs on the weekend. MSU also lost some ground, falling to UM at home, but the 'Cats are showing signs of playing much better ball as of late and entertain NAU and Sac St this week.

As far as individual performances go, there was a bit of a drop off last week from the brilliant performances across the league of a week ago, but never the less, players showed some great leadership in important games. I don't think any player meant more to her team this past weekend than a certain point guard from NAU.

Congratulations this week to Lumberjack Sade Cunningham, this week's BSBTr. The point guard had 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 9 assists in a loss to PSU on Thursday night. On Saturday, Cunningham tallied a game high 21 points on 9-12 shooting to lead NAU past EWU and into a fourth place tie in the conference standings. Cunningham was 1-1 from behind the arc and kicked in 9 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. She played the entire 40 minutes of a neck-and-neck game, and hit the go ahead basket with 36 seconds to go. On the weekend, Cunnigham did not miss a minute of action, playing 80 straight minutes. Perhaps the most significant achievement for Cunnigham personally was that she scored her 1,000th career point in the win over EWU. Most important for NAU however, is that thanks to Cunningham's hard work, the 'Jacks are in good position in the standings heading into their Montana road trip this week.

Honorable Mention BSBTrs

Michelle Grohs (ISU) Grohs scored a game high 27 points, going 10-18 from the field and hitting 3 triples. Grohs also had 10 rebounds in the game. Grohs performance led ISU to a win over NCU and put the Bengals into third place in the conference.

Caitlin Anderson (WSU) Anderson registered her fourth straight double-double and her sixth of the season with a 16 point, 17 rebound outing against NCU. Anderson now has the top 3 single-game rebounding performances of the season in the Big Sky.

Mandy Morales (UM) Morales scored 17 points on 6-11 shooting to lead the Lady Griz past MSU in Bozeman. She added 7 rebounds (4 on the offensive end) and 2 assists in the game.

Nubia Garcia (MSU) The MSU senior recorded her fourth double-double of the season scoring 17 points and 13 rebounds in a loss to UM. She was 6-10 from the field and 5-7 from the FT line.

Tonya Schnibbe (WSU) Schnibbe scored a team high 19 points and chipped in 8 assists in Weber’s win over NCU.

Charday Hunt (SAC) Hunt scored a game high 27 points to lead the Hornets to a big win at home over EWU. Her production dropped off a bit on Saturday as she was just 3-12 from the field for 7 points vs PSU.

Kelli Valentine (PSU) The sophomore scored 16 points and pulled down 6 boards in a win over NAU and followed that up with 21 points and 6 rebounds in a win over Sac St on Saturday. In the Sac St game, Valentine was 8-9 from the field.