1 / 3

Weber State forward Antoniette Emma-Nnopu (7) sizes up the defense of Northern Colorado's Ruthie Loomis-Goltl on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

2 / 3

Weber State forward Nicole Willardson (25) shoots over Northern Colorado's Lilah Moore (11) on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

3 / 3

Weber State guard Hannah Robbins (8) drives against Northern Colorado on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

❮ ❯

OGDEN — Antoniette Emma-Nnopu was a huge part of a lightning strike rally for Weber State women’s basketball that turned a sleepy fourth quarter on its head Saturday at the Dee Events Center.

A 3-pointer, a steal and two free throws from Emma-Nnopu keyed a wild, 38-second stretch that saw Weber State cut a 64-54 deficit against Northern Colorado to 64-63 with exactly 2:00 remaining on the game clock.

Then, with 12 points already in the fourth quarter, the senior Emma-Nnopu — who missed both games last week with a concussion — got to her spot. WSU had just garnered a defensive stop on a shot-clock violation and Emma-Nnopu had the ball on the extended left block trailing by one. She spun, drove and got a right-handed take to the rim with 35 seconds left.

But, like so many of WSU’s paint attempts Saturday afternoon, it rolled out.

Then, after all the clutch play to that point, Emma-Nnopu stepped to the free-throw line with 17.5 seconds left and WSU trailing by two. But she missed the first before making the second.

After expending two timeouts, Northern Colorado got two freebies from Neenah George to go up three. With 12.9 seconds left, Weber State did not get a field goal attempt in the air; when the buzzer sounded, the Bears had escaped with a narrow, 69-66 win after leading for 32:51 of game time.

Weber State is now 0-4 to start its Big Sky schedule.

“We’ve just got to get tougher, you know?” WSU head coach Jenteal Jackson said. “I thought that last seven minutes, we played tough … we played disciplined, the way we were supposed to. We just played tough and fierce, and like it didn’t matter what was happening, we weren’t going to lose. That’s what it felt like.

“We’ve got to have that chip on our shoulder for 40 minutes. If we can figure that out, I think we’ve got a really good group and we can be really tough, and we can contend with anyone in the Big Sky. If we don’t, then we have slower moments … where we go on lulls and allow the other team to get up, and then we have to fight back.”

Emma-Nnopu finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Wildcats (6-11, 0-4 Big Sky). Junior guard Hannah Robbins, who hit a big 3-pointer in the wild 9-0 run, scored 15 points.

Junior forward Paris Lauro, who hit two important 3-pointers in the third quarter to keep NoCo from running away, added 13 points. Lauro and Robbins each made three 3-pointers while WSU made eight total. Senior guard Lanae Billy was 0 of 3 from distance and didn’t make a 3-pointer in the homestand.

Forward Tatum West led Northern Colorado (12-5, 3-1) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. George added 14 points and six assists, Heather Baymon scored 13 points and post player Aniah Hall had 11.

Thursday’s home loss to Northern Arizona saw WSU commit 29 turnovers. Saturday, that number was better — 19, while forcing 21 out of Northern Colorado — but WSU surrendered 20 offensive rebounds to the Bears.

Jackson reiterated her analysis.

“Again, it’s toughness,” Jackson said. “The turnovers on Thursday, it was just a casualness. Lack of being tough and making sure, being positive the pass would get there; we’ve got to value the ball more than that.

“Tonight with box outs, it’s just being tough. Boxing out is not easy, but it’s a choice. Anybody can do it. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing Division I basketball or Junior Jazz, you can do it if you choose to do it. … UNC, hats off to them, they crash the glass exceptionally hard, they’re one of the top O-boarding teams in the conference. They’re big and they’re phsyical, and that’s what they do. We were not as locked in and disciplined in that area as we needed to be.”

WSU next returns to the road, facing Eastern Washington (8-8, 1-2) on Thursday and Idaho (11-5, 2-1) on Saturday.