UCCS (13-12, 12-7 RMAC) vs. South Dakota School of Mines (9-14, 6-13 RMAC) | Friday, Feb. 22 | 5:30 p.m. | Live Stats | Video
UCCS vs. Black Hills State University (14-9, 10-9 RMAC) | Saturday, Feb. 23 | 4 p.m. | Live Stats | Video
 
THIS WEEK
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs women's basketball team will travel to South Dakota to take on South Dakota School of Mines on Friday at 5:30 p.m., and Black Hills State University on Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN LIONS
After closing out their last home games of the regular season, UCCS will play their final three games on the road before post-season begins.
 
The Mountain Lions are tied for fourth place in the league standings with a 12-7 record.  UCCS (13-12) is also tied with CSU-Pueblo and MSU Denver.
 
The Mountain Lions played their last home regular season games this past weekend, posting a split at Gallogly Events Center against CSU-Pueblo (L, 67-73) and New Mexico Highlands (W, 71-62).
 
UCCS has remained at or above the .500 mark in conference games this season and have either swept or split all nine back-to-back RMAC series.
 
The Mountain Lions rank in the top half of the league in several statistical categories, including assists (first, 15.0), rebound margin (fifth, +3.9), blocked shots (third, 3.4), free throw percentage (sixth, 71.3 percent), rebounding offense (third, 38.3), and three-point field goal percentage (third, 35.8 percent).
 
Three Mountain Lions are averaging at least 7.5 points per game.  Chelsea Pearson, who has started in 7-of-23 games, leads the team's offense with 7.8 points per game.  Pearson has made a team high 48 treys, including 11 games with at least three made three-pointers, and three games with at least five treys.  In the Mountain Lions last four home games, Pearson netted 16 threes, including a season high six against Chadron State on Feb. 9.
 
Madi Gaibler and Jae Ferrin are each netting 7.6 points per game.  Ferrin leads the team with 4.9 rebounds per game and has added 43 assists, the third most on the team.  Gaibler is coming off the bench and is averaging nearly 19 minutes per game.  She has grabbed 97 rebounds and stolen the ball 21 times.
   
O'Flannigan has dished out 73 assists this season, the 13^th highest average in the league (2.9).
  
LAST TIME OUT
Playing their final games at home during the regular season, the Mountain Lions fell to CSU-Pueblo, 73-67, before bouncing back to defeat New Mexico Highlands, 71-62.
 
On Friday in a Steel and Silver Series showdown against the Pack, UCCS had three double-digit scorers in the game with Ferrin, Pearson, and Maddie Golla scoring 12, 10, and 10, respectively. Pearson partnered her 12 points with five assists, as Ferrin and Pearson bagged seven boards each, with all of Ferrin's rebounds being on the defensive side of the ball.

The Mountain Lions led a majority of the game (28:17) with their biggest lead being 15-points in as late as the third quarter. There was a total of seven lead changes throughout the game as the ThunderWolves' late push in the second half was the difference in the game.

Against the Cowgirls on Saturday, the Mountain Lions shot better from beyond the arc than from the field as they had a 48.1 (13-of-27) three-point percentage versus a 44.8 (26-of-58) field goal percentage. Pearson and Golla each registered a team high 17 points, with Gaibler grabbing 12 boards and coming up one-point shy of a double-double.

In the first half alone, UCCS made 10 of their 13 threes as they shot 19-of-33 from the field (58 percent) to get out in front of NMHU 49-26.

UCCS received a lot of bench help with 32 points coming from four different Mountain Lions, compared to NMHU's 15 points. UCCS also edged out the NMHU 32-29 in rebounds to help notch the double-digit victory.

SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES & TECHNOLOGY
In their first meeting of the season on Jan. 19, the Mountain Lions topped the Hardrockers, 57-45, at Gallogly Events Center, marking the fewest points allowed by UCCS this season.
 
South Dakota Mines is sitting in 13^th place in the league standings at 6-13 (9-14 overall).  They have split their last four series and are 6-7 at home this season.  As a team, the Hardrockers are scoring 57.1 points per game and allowing 57.6.
 
Taylor Molstad and Sami Steffeck lead SDSMT offensively with 11.9 points and 11.4 points per game, respectively.  Both have started all 23 games for the Rocker.  Molstad has a team high 58 assists while Steffeck has nabbed a team high 45 steals and sunk 63 from downtown.

SCOUTING BLACK HILLS STATE UNIVERSITY
After starting the season winning their first five games and nine of their first 10, the Yellow Jackets have dropped eight of the last 13 games and have split their last five series.  BHSU is tied for eighth place in the conference standings and are two games behind UCCS with a 10-9 conference record (14-9 overall). 


Black Hills State handed UCCS a 62-58 decision on Jan. 18 in Gallogly Events Center.  Since then, BHSU has gone 5-4.  The YellowJackets are outscoring their opponents by five points per game and are shooting the ball at 41.1 percent clip.
 
Morgan Ham leads four players in double digit scoring.  Ham is netting 14.0 points per game.  She and teammate Julia Seamans have both started all 23 games for the Yellow Jackets.  Seamans is averaging 10.6 points and a team high 3.0 assists per game.

HEAD COACH LYNN PLETT
After the first RMAC championship in program history in his first season in 2016-17, Lynn Plett returns for his third year on the sideline for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. He guided the Mountain Lions to the RMAC Tournament Championship in 2017 and the third straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

In the 2017-18 season, Plett coached All-RMAC honorable mention Shanah Leaf as well as five Mountain Lions who received honors on the RMAC All-Academic team. Last season proved to be a rebuilding year for the Mountain Lions as they lost three starting seniors while adding six new players to the roster. UCCS finished the season with an overall 10-17 record with a 10-12 conference record, which placed the Mountain Lions 10th in the RMAC conference.

Plett coached two All-RMAC First Team student-athletes for the 2016-17 season in Brittany Hernandez and Tori Fisher. The Mountain Lions tied for second in the RMAC standings and won the tournament with the best defensive performance in championship game history in a 53-37 victory against Regis. UCCS advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in its furthest postseason run since 2015.

Plett spent four seasons at Northern Kentucky, where the Norse qualified for the Women's Basketball Invitational postseason tournament each season during the transition from NCAA Division II to Division I. Prior to NKU, he spent five seasons as the head coach at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Mo. Plett served as the head coach at Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. from 2002 through 2007.  Plett entered Division II coaching at Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Ind., in 1994, where he also doubled as the athletic director.
 
UP NEXT
UCCS will close out the regular season at Colorado School of Mines on Friday, March 1 at 6 p.m.