Curry Spices Northridge Victory

MISSOULA, Mont. — Freshman guard Edniesha Curry scored 20 points and Cal State Northridge made history Thursday night, beating Weber State, 73-69, in the first round of the Big Sky Conference women’s basketball tournament at the University of Montana.

The Matadors (14-13) recorded their first victory in NCAA Division I postseason competition since moving up for the 1990-91 season.

“For our program, it’s a huge milestone,” Northridge Coach Mike Abraham said.

“Not only did we make it to the conference tournament, but now we’ve won a game.”

The fourth-seeded Matadors meet second-seeded Northern Arizona (21-5) today at 5 p.m. in the second round.

Weber State (7-20) did not go quietly into the Montana night.

The Wildcats trailed, 37-32, at halftime, fell behind by 16 in the second half, and then rallied to within 66-64 with 1:28 left when the Matadors went scoreless for five minutes.

“We got good looks, but just got tight a bit,” Abraham said.

Curry came to the Matadors’ rescue, making a 17-foot jump shot from the right side to bump Northridge’s lead to 68-64.

Curry added free throws in the final 40 seconds to give Northridge a seven-point cushion.

“I would say she was relatively clutch, as usual,” Abraham said.