CANYON, Texas – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs will play in the Sweet 16 round of the 2015 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament after an 83-77 win against Colorado Christian today at the First United Bank Center. The Mountain Lions (26-6) will face West Texas A&M on Monday at 6 p.m., MDT.

Abby Kirchoff scored 22 points and Brittany Hernandez recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

UCCS broke open the game with a 13-2 run in the first half to turn a 20-19 deficit into a 32-22 lead. The Mountain Lions shot 52 percent from the field and 89 percent from the free throw line in the first half for the 41-31 advantage at the break.

The Mountain Lions opened the second half with back-to-back three-pointers from Kirchoff, and she made a layup on the third UCCS possession of the half in an 8-2 run for a 49-33 lead. UCCS held the Cougars without a field goal for more than three minutes to take a 19-point lead with 14:30 to play, and Shanah Leaf made it a 23-point game with 11:28 to play.

Colorado Christian scored 16 unanswered points to make it a two possession game at 69-63 with 3:36 to play. Gabby Ramirez made a pair of free throws to end a five minute scoring drought, and a three-pointer from Hernandez put UCCS ahead 74-65 with 2:28 remaining. The Mountain Lions made nine of their final 10 free throws during the last two minutes to avenge a loss to the Cougars in the RMAC Semifinals last Friday.

Kirchoff became the first Mountain Lion in program history to surpass 600 points in a season with 620 in her senior campaign. She is 58 points away from tying the RMAC career record with 1,938 points. Kirchoff made six 3-pointers and went eight-of-17 overall from the field.

Hernandez went seven-of-11 from the field and was two-of-two at the three-point line. She added to her program-record for season rebounds and has 276 this season. Hernandez added three steals and two blocked shots to lead the Mountain Lion defense in both categories.

UCCS will be off on Sunday to prepare for the NCAA Third Round game on Monday night.