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UCCS Athletics

Dec 11, 2021; Colorado Springs, CO, USA; The UCCS Mountain Lions hosted the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers in women’s basketball at Gallogly Events Center. Credit: Isaiah J. Downing
Isaiah J. Downing

2021-22 Women’s Basketball Season In Review

4/21/2022 10:00:00 AM

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SEASON RECAP
  • Coming off a COVID-19 shortened season in 2020-21, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs women's basketball team finished the 2021-22 season with a 13-16 overall record and an 11-11 mark in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games.  UCCS earned a spot in the RMAC championship tournament for the first time since 2016-17.  The 13 wins matches the most wins in a season since 2018-19, and the most league wins since 2018-19 when the Mountain Lions went 13-15 overall and 12-10 in RMAC games.  UCCS fared well when playing on the road, collecting seven of their 13 wins away from Gallolgy Events Center and winning both neutral site contests.
  • UCCS started their season with two games against Lone Star Conference foes, opening the season with two setbacks at Midwestern State University and Cameron University.  The Mountain Lions returned to Colorado Springs to open their home season against another LSC opponent – Texas A&M Kingsville (L, 59-57) before hosting Regis University in a non-conference game.  Despite falling to the Rangers, 81-63, the Mountain Lions shot lights out against Regis, shooting a season best 56.8 percent from the floor (25-of-44).
  • UCCS closed out the non-conference portion of their schedule with two neutral site games in Pueblo, Colo. against Friends University and University of the Southwest.  The Mountain Lions earned their first win of the season, 68-54, against Friends before tacking on an 89-67 win over Southwest.  The 89 points scored against USW proved to be the most points the Mountain Lions put up on the scoreboard this season.
  • The RMAC season opened for the Mountain Lions on Dec. 3-4.  UCCS returned to Pueblo where they suffered a five-point loss to the ThunderWolves before taking down Adams State University the following night, 71-60. 
  • After the road win against the Grizzlies, the Mountain Lions encountered a four-game skid to Colorado School of Mines, Chadron State College, Black Hills State University and Westminster College.  In UCCS' double overtime loss on the road to the Eagles, the Mountain Lions drained a season high nine treys while blocking a season high seven shots on the other end of the court.
  • Contending with a two-week delay of competition due to COVID-19 protocols and testing, UCCS played their first game since New Year's Day when they played host to Adams State on Jan. 14, completing the season sweep over the Grizzlies.  A home setback that saw the Mountain Lions score a season low 34 points to CSUP was quickly turned around with a 66-64 overtime win at Regis three days later.
  • The Roadrunners of MSU Denver came into Gallogly to win the first of two meetings against UCCS, but the Mountain Lions took care of business winning the next two games against Colorado Christian and a road game against the Cowgirls.  The Mountain Lions' 68-65 win over the Cougars on Jan. 22 was a historic win for head coach Lynn Plett as is marked his 300th collegiate career win as a head coach.
  • In the middle of a four-game road trip, the Mountain Lions fell to South Dakota School of Mines by just two points but rebounded to win their next to games at Western Colorado University and Fort Lewis College.  Two home setbacks to Colorado Mesa University and Black Hills State resulted in the Mountain Lions longest win streak of the season as they closed the regular season winning four of their last five games.  The Mountain Lions avenged an earlier loss in the season to Chadron State, making a season high 33 field goals on their way to a 78-61 home win.  The following weekend, UCCS completed the series sweep with a road win over the CCU Cougars, followed by an overtime battle at MSU Denver that led to an 82-78 victory for the Mountain Lions. 
  • In the Mountain Lions last win of the season, UCCS tied their season high for made field goals (33) and made three-pointers (nine), and dished out a season high 17 assists for a 44-point win against NMHU.  After an ensuing loss to the Hardrockers to end the regular season, the Mountain Lions finished the regular season earning the No. 7 seed in the conference tournament.  UCCS faced Colorado Mesa for the second time this season, but fell to the No. 2 seed in Brownson Arena, 79-48.
 
AWARD WINNERS  
STAT LEADERS
  • UCCS was one of the top rebounding teams in the South Central region this season.  The Mountain Lions led the RMAC and ranked third in the region in rebounds per game (41.8), and they were tops in the league in rebound margin (7.7) while ranking second in the region.
  • Offensively, UCCS' 62.9 points per game was the ninth highest average while their defense ranked sixth overall, holding opponents to 62.8 points per game. 
  • UCCS finished in the top third of the RMAC in field goal shooting percentage, hitting 40.7 percent from the floor (696-of-1,212) for the fifth best mark.
  • In 29 games this season, the Mountain Lions averaged 8.76 steals, 3.24 blocks and 12.8 assists per game, ranking fifth, sixth and seventh in the league, respectively.
  • Graduate student Jasmine Jeffcoat led the Mountain Lions offense with 10 points per game and shot a solid 55.7 percent from the floor (112-of-201).  In one season with the Mountain Lions, Jeffcoat ranked eighth in the RMAC in offensive rebounds per game (2.4), 10th in blocks (24) and 11th in blocks per game (.83).
  • Another graduate student and transfer, Shelby Megyeri, was second on the team in scoring with 8.6 points per game and netted 84-of-251 field goals for a 33.5 shooting mark.  Megyeri made and attempted the most three-pointers for the Mountain Lions, sinking 22-of-89 for the eighth best percentage on the squad (24.7 percent).
  • Freshman Maison White edged Jeffcoat for the top shooting mark, hitting 56 percent on 79-of-141 field goals while averaging 7.6 points per game.
  • Cleaning up the boards was newcomer Agar Farres who pulled in 188 rebounds (6.5 per game), ranking sixth in the league in total rebounds and eight in defensive rebounds per game (4.9).
  • Sophie Abela dished out a team high 75 dimes and ranked 11th in the league in assists per game (2.9) and led the team in minutes played (24:47 per game).
 
HOT TAKES
  • The Mountain Lions were picked to finish 11th in the 2021-22 RMAC preseason poll but exceeded expectations and finished the season seventh overall behind an 11-11 RMAC record.
  • Head coach Lynn Plett finished his sixth season with the Mountain Lions and owns a 78-86 (.469) record at UCCS.  Plett, who earned his 300th career win this season, is 307-353 all-time in 24 seasons as a head coach.
  • The Mountain Lions outrebounded their opponents 24 times, including nine games with at least a 10-rebound advantage.
  • The sixth best blocking team in the league, the Mountain Lions recorded at least one block in all by one of their 29 games.  They capped off a three-game streak of at least six blocks when they blocked a season high seven shots at Chadron State on Dec. 18.
  • UCCS finished the season shooting 40.7 percent from the floor, the fifth highest mark in the RMAC. The Mountain Lions shot better than their opponent 18 times, and shot at least .400 or better in 19 games, including a season high 56.8 percent (25-of-44) against Regis on Nov. 21.
  • Seven different Mountain Lions led the team in scoring in 29 games.  Jeffcoat was the Mountain Lions highest scorer in eight games, followed by White and Megyeri in five games each.
  • In 12 games Farres was the leading rebounder for UCCS, while White led the team on the boards eight times followed by Jeffcoat seven times as the leading rebounder.
 
2022-23 OUTLOOK
  • The Mountain Lions started the 2021-22 season with four returners and 11 newcomers, three of which were graduate student transfers who had one year of eligibility remaining (Jeffcoat, Megyeri and McClain Walker).  The Mountain Lions, who lose all three graduate student transfers, along with Ellie Moore and Bo Shaffer to graduation, will have 10 players returning next year.
  • "We didn't really have a nucleus coming back from last year," said Plett. "Our hope is that nucleus that we now have our two young classes in particular, will continue to get better and hopefully in two to three years, or maybe even next year, we can benefit like some of those other teams this year by having so many returners back."
  • On his expectations for next year, Plett commented that "we're still going to be very young from the sophomores and juniors, eligibility wise, but within that group we have some individuals that have the potential to be a floor general, who can be the person on the court that brings things together and organizes things and has that respect from their peers to be those types of leaders on the court.  We can point to someone like Sophie who has become a player for us who has become really consistent and has that kind of personality to reign things in a little when things get a little crazy on the court."
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