Jubic's shot in final second lifts Mountain Lions to victory

COLORADO SPRINGS -- Janean Jubic sank an improbable shot with 0.3 second remaining to lift the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs to a 74-72 victory over the Regis Rangers Tuesday evening at the Lions' Den.

With the score tied and 11 seconds remaining, Jubic broke a halfcourt Regis trap with a pass to Candace Thornton, who promptly returned the ball to a now-free Jubic. The 5-foot-4 sophomore dribbled down to the left baseline but was cut off by 5-foot-11 Paulina Tuell. With the clock nearly expired, she launched what could be called a 15-foot, fade-away, off-the-ear, line-drive jumper that went in.

Tonya Tripp celebrated her final home game as a Mountain Lion with a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with her 17 points. Nancy Hoist also had 17 points for UCCS (11-16, 5-11 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference). It was also the final home game for fellow seniors Emily Jenkins and Stacy LaBuhn.

"Tonight meant a lot," said Tripp. "Everybody came and did what they had to do and gave it their all. It felt good; it left me extremely emotional."

The Mountain Lions shot 54 percent from the field, their second-highest mark of the season. While Tripp and Hoist did the damage inside, Jubic (nine points), Thornton (eight) and Jenkins (six) all kept Regis honest by working the perimeter.

"That's always the gameplan if you can," said Tripp. "You need to get it inside to open up shots. If you knock down outside shots, it opens up the inside. Every time we get that ratio working out, it works really well for us."

UCCS also owned the boards, outrebounding the Rangers 39-22.

"If it didn't go in, we wanted another chance to put it in the bucket," said Tripp. "They were so worried about double- and triple-teaming people that they would forget to box out. Other than that, we were just determined."

The Mountain Lions trailed by as many as eight in the second half, but an 11-3 UCCS run sparked by 3-pointers by Mallory Lowe and Thornton tied the game, 54-54 with 10:33 remaining, for the first time since the 12:48 mark of the first half.

It wouldn't be the final tie, though. The teams knotted the score seven more times before two Jubic free throws gave UCCS a 70-68 lead with 1:08 remaining. Tuell made one of her two free throws to cut the lead to one before Thornton drained a 15 footer to increase the lead to three with just 19 seconds left.

Despite the unfavorable situation, Regis found an answer. Stevi Seitz drove hard to the basket for a layup with 11 seconds left and was also fouled on the play. Her free throw tied the score.

It also set up Jubic's heroics.

Tuell led Regis (12-12, 8-8 RMAC) with 20 points, while Seitz added 11. Breanne Burley had eight assists.

A Seitz 3-pointer gave Regis its largest lead of the first half, 26-13, with 7:48 remaining. The Mountain Lions were able to answer, scoring nine straight, five by Tripp and four by Alex Pitts, over the next 3:19 to close to within four.

A 3-pointer by Thornton cut the UCCS deficit to 28-27, but a pair of 3-pointers by Jenny Viera in the final minute helped the Rangers go into the intermission leading 34-29.