THIS WEEK'S GAMES

The University of Colorado Colorado Springs women's basketball team stays on the road to complete their four game road trip this weekend.

• Feb. 14 at 5:30 p.m. at Colorado State University-Pueblo (5-17, 4-13 RMAC)

• Feb. 15 at 5:00 p.m. at New Mexico Highlands University (1-21, 0-17 RMAC)

GAME COVERAGE

Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/uccs/

Live Stats @ CSUP:  http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=csup

Live Stats @ NMHU:  https://portal.stretchinternet.com/uccs/

LAST TIME OUT

• The Mountain Lions went 1-1 over the weekend, starting their weekend with a 49-57 loss against Metropolitan State University of Denver.  UCCS started the game in rhythm to what fans are used to witnessing at home and led the first quarter 17-15. The second quarter is when the Mountain Lions started to fall behind and the Roadrunner's offense proved hard to stop with them shooting 6-of-11 from the field (54.4 percent).  MSUD's defense was hard for UCCS to break in the second half as they were held to just 19 points. Abby Feickert led the team with 11 points and Kaity Hovasse and freshman Ellie Moore worked the defensive end with Hovasse stacking up seven rebounds and two blocks to Moore's three steals.

• Saturday night fans saw the Mountain Lions more consistent in their play, even shooting 75 percent from the free throw line.  CSC fouled three times in the last 50 seconds of the game to seal their fate as UCCS shot 5-of-6 from the charity stripe to come out with the 70-64 win.  The Mountain Lions played unforgiving defense, not uncommon for them, to hold the Eagles to just five points in the first quarter and force 19 turnovers for the game.  Offensively UCCS shared the wealth with nine of the 11 players getting on the board and five of them putting up eight points. Ellie Moore led the team with 11 points. UCCS outscored CSC 42-20 in the paint and capitalized on the turnovers to put up another 21 points.

THE SERIES

• The Mountain Lions fall behind the ThunderWolves with an all-time record of 22-35.  UCCS was able to blow away CSUP at home at the beginning of the month, but road games prove more difficult for the Mountain Lions as they are 6-24 when playing at CSUP.

• NMHU is a young team this year with most of their roster being Freshman.  This made the last match-up against the Cowgirls a dominating win for UCCS, 74-39.  The Mountain Lions will look to extend their eight game win streak against NMHU to bring them closer to tying the all-time record 22-25.

SCOUTING REPORT

• JaNaiya Davis is an influential player for the ThunderWolves. Davis places in the top 10 in six of the RMAC rankings, showing a high basketball IQ as she falls in both defensive and offensive categories.  Davis is fifth in scoring and field goal percentage averaging 16.4 points per game while shooting 44 percent from the field. The sophomore also averages a 78.6 percent free throws percentage putting her at No. 9 and then sits at No. 8 in the RMAC in rebounds with 6.6 per game, second in steals with 2.8 per game, and No. 1 in assists with 4.7 per game.

• Sydni Williams is also a player to watch against CSUP as she sits at No. 4 in the RMAC in rebounds totalling 187 for the season (8.1 per game), No. 2 in blocks with 1.6 per game (37 for the season), and No. 12 in free throw percentage with 74.4 percent.

• Freshman Maiah Rivas is the leader for the Cowgirls ranking at No. 4 in the RMAC in steals with 1.9 per game.  Rivas is also ninth in the conference in assists per game with a total of 74 for the season (3.4 per game) and 10th in three-point percentage, shooting 27.7 percent with an average of two threes per game.

HOT TAKES

• Madi Gaibler leads the team in rebounds averaging 5.3 per game which puts her at No. 21 for the conference

• Kaity Hovasse falls behind Gaibler on assists for the team with 32 for the season in only 15 games giving her an average of 2.1 per game.

• Freshman Ellie Moore stays at No. 5 in the RMAC blocked shots averaging 2.1 per game and a total of 24 for the season.

• Abby Feickert continues to lead the Mountain Lions in all shooting categories averaging 11.1 points per game, shooting 43.9 percent from the field, 38 percent behind the arc, and 75 percent at the free throw line.

UCCS UNDER HEAD COACH LYNN PLETT

• Lynn Plett is in his fourth year on the sideline for UCCS.  The 2018-19 season finished with a six-way fourth place finish in the RMAC regular season standings with a 12-10 conference record and a 13-15 overall mark.  Off the court, the Mountain Lions received their first RMAC Brechler Award, besting all 16 teams in the conference with a 3.660 grade point average.

• 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. He served on the NCAA Women's Basketball Rules Committee from 2007 through 2011.

• Plett was the head coach at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, from 2002 through 2007, and his teams qualified for three NCAA Division II Tournaments in his career. Plett entered Division II coaching at Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana, in 1994, where he also doubled as athletic director. He won the GLVC championship and was named GLVC Coach of the Year in his first season and coached an All-American, two-time conference player of the year and a two-time NCAA Division II scoring leader. 

UPCOMING GAMES

UCCS will come home next weekend and host South Dakota School of Mines and Black Hills State University in the Gallogly Events Center. 

• Feb. 21 vs. South Dakota Mines at 5:30 p.m.  Colorado Springs, Colo./Gallogly Events Center

• Feb. 22 vs. Black Hills State at 5:30 p.m. Colorado Springs, Colo./Gallogly Events Center