THIS WEEK'S GAMES

The University of Colorado Colorado Springs women's basketball team will have their Senior Night this Friday against Colorado School of Mines.

• Feb. 28 at 5:30 p.m. vs. Colorado School of Mines (18-8, 15-6 RMAC)
   

GAME COVERAGE

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

Live Stats:  https://gomountainlions.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary

LAST TIME OUT

• UCCS swept the weekend starting with a commanding performance Friday night against South Dakota School of Mines.  The Mountain Lions led for 38 minutes to end SDSM's nine game winning streak. UCCS outshot SDSMT 48.4 percent to 30.6 percent from the field.  Madi Gaibler came out with her third double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds and helped the Mountain Lions take the lead in the first quarter where they never relinquished for the rest of the game.  The Hardrockers cut their deficit to six points in the fourth quarter, but UCCS responded by picking up the pressure on defense, forcing bad shots on SD Mines.

• Saturday night was a hard fought game where UCCS led a majority of the time, the Mountain Lions came out hot and heavy dominating the first quarter and laid on the defense so that the Yellow Jackets didn't even score their first points of the game until the final minute of the first quarter.  Black Hills State University's star player, Morgan Ham, knocked down a three to tie the game in the final two minutes. UCCS responded with freshman Ellie Moore hitting the game winning shot to give them the 57-56 lead and pulled a crucial defensive rebound to prevent the second chance shot in the last 4.5 seconds of the game.  Moore had an incredible game shooting 100 percent for the night from both the field (4-4) and the free throw line (2-2).

THE SERIES

• The Mountain Lions are leading the series against Colorado School of Mines 21-19.  They played CSM earlier this year where they just barely lost on the road, 61-64. UCCS has won 11 of the 21 home games played (11-9) and average 61.4 points against the Orediggers.

SCOUTING REPORT

• Denali Pinto dominates the offensive end for the CSM Orediggers.  Pinto is currently first in scoring in the RMAC averaging 20.5 points per game and is in the top 10 in all other shooting categories.  Pinto averages 42.1 percent from the field and 40.1 percent behind the arc making her No. 9 and No. 3 respectively. She leads the conference in free throw percentage at 88.2 percent and has 69 three pointers made for the season (2.7 per game) making her third in the RMAC.

HOT TAKES

• Ellie Moore had another incredible performance over the weekend shooting 57.1 percent from the field racking up 18 points.  Moore also pulled down nine rebounds, had six assists, three blocks, one steal, and one steal for the weekend.

• Madi Gaibler continues to lead the team in field goals made (3.9 per game), rebounds (5.1 per game), and assists (1.7 per game).  Coming out with her double-double on Friday, Gaibler now sits at No. 20 in the RMAC for rebounds averaging 5.6 per game.

• Kaity Hovasse had a great weekend shooting 41.2 percent from the field, scoring 16 points over the weekend. Hovass also pulled  in 18 rebounds, had six assists, one block, and one steal. This weekend's performance put her at No. 24 in the RMAC for assists averaging 2.1 per game.

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

Friday's game is the final of the season for UCCS.  Following the game Chelsea Pearson, Madi Gaibler, and Caley Barnard will be honored as part of Senior Night.