COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs women's basketball team will look to expand on a 10-game home winning streak on Friday when the Mountain Lions (8-4, 5-1 RMAC) host Western State (3-7, 2-4 RMAC) in the final game of the 2016 calendar year. The game will tip-off at 5:30 p.m., at the Gallogly Events Center.
UCCS is 12-1 at home in 2016, with the lone loss in a 59-55 contest to then-No. 24 Colorado Mines on Jan. 15, 2016. The Mountain Lions won their last home game 73-65 on Dec. 17 against the Orediggers with 20 points from
Brittany Hernandez and
Tori Fisher. The current 10-game home win streak is the longest since the program-record 15-game stretch from Jan. 20, 2000, through Feb. 8, 2002. The 10 straight wins are the second longest active streak in the RMAC (CSU-Pueblo, 11), the third longest in the South Central Region (Lubbock Christian, 26), and tied for the No. 14 longest active streak in Division II.
Friday will be the first time UCCS has hosted Western at the Gallogly Events Center since a 73-65 win on Jan. 11, 2013. The game during the 2014-15 season was played at the Colorado Springs City Auditorium on Jan. 9, 2015, as part of the Fourth Annual Downtown Classic, and it was a 73-58 win for the Mountain Lions. UCCS has won the last eight games in the series against Western State dating back to Nov. 24, 2009, in a non-conference home game in The Lion's Den, the current Berger Hall on campus.
Hernandez is the defending RMAC Defensive Player of the Week after she used back-to-back double-doubles against Colorado Christian and Colorado Mines on Dec. 16-17. She is second in the RMAC this season with 8.2 rebounds per game, and third with 16.6 points and 1.4 blocked shots per game. Hernandez is fourth in UCCS career scoring with 1,240 points and needs 65 to tie for third. She is also fifth in career rebounds with 578, and needs six to tie for fourth and 16 to tie for third. Hernandez is also 11 steals away from tying for No. 10 in program career records.
Fisher is shooting 59.8 percent from the field for the second-best average in the RMAC this season, and is averaging 11.2 points per game in her 12 starts. She is making half of her shots from the three-point line.
Jen Vigil leads the conference with 2.3 steals per game and is No. 40 in the nation with 28 steals this season.
Western State has the fifth-best scoring defense in the conference at 58.6 points per game, and has held RMAC opponents to 60 points or less in four of the six games this season. The Mountaineers have an even turnover margin this season and are fourth in the conference with 8.6 steals per game. Harlie Williams leads the team with 9.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
Mac Buckley will call Friday's action on the UCCS Athletic Network with Charlie Botnick as color analysis. The game can be seen live on the team's Facebook and Twitter pages.
