UCCS looks to extend the best start in progam history as they battle CSU-Pueblo

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The University of Colorado Colorado Springs women's basketball team (8-2 / 5-1 RMAC) will host Colorado State University-Pueblo (8-2 / 5-1 RMAC) this Saturday at the City Auditorium for the inaugural Downtown Classic.  

The UCCS Mountain Lions and the CSU-P Thunderwolves are off to the best start to a season in program history and are currently tied for second in the RMAC standings.

The Mountain Lions look to extend their four game winning streak and improve their home record to 7-1 for the first time since 2005-2006.

The last time these two teams met, UCCS snapped a five game winning streak held by CSU-P as the Mountain Lions defeated the Thunderwolves 61-58 in the quarterfinal game of the 2012 RMAC shootout.

UCCS enters this game atop many statistical categories in the RMAC including: assists, field goal percent, and steals. The Mountain Lions are currently first in the RMAC for assists per game with 18.2, second in field goal percent, shooting 45.1 percent as a team and second in steals per game with 10.  

Through the first ten games of the season, the Mountain Lions are averaging 72 points per game, which is third best in the RMAC, while outscoring their opponents by an average of 10.1 points per game.

One of the reasons for the Mountain Lions success is their accuracy from downtown. The team is third in the RMAC for 3-pointers percent, shooting just over 38 percent as a team. The long rang attack is led by Jeri Pikul, who is averaging 48.4 percent, third best in the RMAC.

Jeri Pikul and Abby Kirchoff are leading the Mountain Lions in free throw percent, shooting 87 percent and 86 percent which ranks third and fourth in the RMAC respectively.

Sam Patterson enters this weekend as the RMAC offensive player of the week as she averaged 19.5 points per game and shot 60 percent from the field in the previous two conference road games. She scored a game-high and season-best 23 points in a four point win against New Mexico Highlands on Dec. 14. The next night in an overtime win against Western New Mexico, Patterson had the teams' first double-double since Feb. 18, 2012, as she finished with 16 points and a game-high and season-best 15 rebounds. In that game, she also shot better than 66 percent from the field and went 8-of-8 from the free-throw line.

The lone senior on the team, Lauren Wolfinger, has cracked the top 10 for all-time 3-pointers in school history. She has 109 for her career and counting, which ranks eighth all-time at UCCS. She needs just seven more to move into a tie for seventh.