THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

• Claiming a home win over #5 seed Colorado School of Mines on Tuesday in the quarterfinal round, the No. 4 seed University of Colorado Colorado Springs women's basketball team is poised to take on No. 8 seed Colorado State University Pueblo on Friday at 7 p.m. in the semifinal round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship tournament.  No. 2 seed Regis University is playing host to the RMAC semifinals and championship games.

 
GAME COVERAGE

• Complete game coverage for the final games at Regis University are listed below:
  • Live Stats
  • Live Stream ($)
  • RMAC Game Program (TBA)
  • RMAC Tournament Bracket
  • RMAC Tournament Page
  • Tickets
  • Merchandise

TICKETS

• Fans planning on attending Friday's semifinal games and Saturday's championship game will be charged admission.  All fans can purchase tickets online at Hometown Ticketing: https://rmacsports.org/tournaments/?id=236.  Current UCCS students will receive free admission to the game with their student ID.
• Ticket Prices:

Adults: $15.00
Over 65: $10.00
Children: $10.00
Under 5: Free
 
RMAC NETWORK

• New to conference championships this year is a paywall for all RMAC championships.  Each game of the 2023-24 RMAC Women's Basketball Tournament will be broadcast live on the RMAC Network for the price of $9.95 per day pass. Each day pass grants access to any tournament game in competition for that given day.

 
RMAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY

• UCCS is 9-8 all-time in the RMAC Women's Basketball Tournament.
• The last time UCCS qualified for the RMAC Tournament was in 2021-22 as the No. 7 seed (L, 79-48 at Colorado Mesa University).
• The last time UCCS hosted a conference tournament playoff game and won was in 2016-17 as the No. 3 seed.  The Mountain Lions would go on to win the RMAC Tournament Championship that year after downing MSU Denver, Colorado Mesa and Regis.

 
LAST TIME OUT 

• The Mountain Lions extended their winning streak to 11 games and advanced to the semifinal round after defeating Colorado School of Mines Tuesday night at home, 71-65.  UCCS started the playoff game attacking from the jump as they went on an 11-4 run including treys from Krystina Hagood and Emily Vidal, both assisted by Briana Knabe. The Mountain Lions defense suffocated the Orediggers in the opening frame as they shot 2-of-16 from the field in the first quarter.  UCCS closed the first quarter on a 14-3 run where they shot a perfect 5-for-5 from the field including baskets from Amyah Moore Allen, Vidal, Breelyn Robinson, and Jessica Nation. The Mountain Lions would carry an imposing 25-9 lead going into the second quarter.  CSM started chipping away at their deficit early on and stayed in the game with knock-down free throw shooting in the second quarter. The Orediggers opened with a 9-3 run where they went a perfect 6-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe.  The Mountain Lions responded to this run with a pair of buckets, but CSM was finding their groove. After nine straight points late in the quarter from the Orediggers, Hagood would silence their momentum by hitting a corner three with the assist coming from Mya Wilson. UCCS would carry a 43-35 lead going into the break.
• Out of the half, CSM caught fire with a 14-5 run in the first three minutes and thirty seconds of the quarter. They made four straight buckets in this stretch and captured their first lead of the night (49-48).  To open the fourth quarter, neither team could find rhythm as the two defenses began to lock in. UCCS went on an 8-4 scoring run where Robinson was crucial in stretch. She scored six of the Mountain Lions' eight points in the first five minutes of the quarter to see themselves up 65-62.  The Orediggers did not record a bucket in the last three minutes of the game and UCCS did a great job of keeping them away from the free throw line. With 18 seconds left, Moore Allen would essentially seal the game with a clean euro-step layup to give the Mountain Lions a 69-65 lead. With more stellar defense on the other end, UCCS would secure the rebound and Vidal would sink two free throws to give the Mountain Lions a 71-65 play-off win.

NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS

• Coming off two home wins to close out the regular season on March 1-2 and earning a share of the RMAC Regular Season Championship, the UCCS women's basketball team remains at No. 9 in the final edition of the regular season rankings, announced Wednesday afternoon.  The rankings list the 10 teams in each region most likely to qualify for the NCAA Division II post-season tournament, which begins March 16.
• The 64-team NCAA postseason tournament is comprised of eight teams from each of the eight Division II regions.  The South Central Region is made up of 15 teams from the RMAC and 16 teams from the Lone Star Conference.

RMAC LEADERS

• UCCS is one of the top offensive and defensive teams in the league.  Through 29 games, the Mountain Lions posted the sixth highest scoring average out of 15 teams (68.2 points per game) while holding their opponents to the second fewest points (59.9 points per game).
• Defensively, the Mountain Lions are the top ranked defensive team in opponents' three-point shooting percentage, keeping their opponents to just a 26.3 shooting percent from three-point range, while holding their opponents to the seconds lowest field goal shooting mark (37.0 percent).  The black and gold are averaging 3.3 blocks and 10.3 steals on the defensive end of the court.
• Offensively, UCCS has the second highest field goal shooting percentage (43.2 percent) and the second-best mark from behind the arc (35.2 percent).  The Mountain Lions bench is one of the most productive benches in the league, scoring a league best 29.6 points per game which is the 13^th highest scoring bench in Division II.
• Individually, the duo of Maison White and Amyah Moore Allen are ranked 13^th and 14^th overall in scoring, respectively.  White is pouring in 12.7 points per game while Moore Allen is netting 12.6 on average.
• White's 56.6 field goal percentage is the second highest in the league and her 9.0 rebounds are the third most.  She and Moore Allen wreaked havoc on the defensive end of the court with White averaging nearly one block per game and Moore Allen stealing the ball 1.9 times per game.
• White, who recorded her 10^th double-double of the season on Saturday against New Mexico Highlands, has the third most double-doubles in the RMAC and ranks 46^th in Division II.

RMAC AWARDS

• On Wednesday morning, the RMAC announced the 2024 All-RMAC teams and individual award winners.  Three Mountain Lions were recognized on the all-conference teams.  Redshirt-junior Amyah Moore Allen and junior Maison White were voted to the All-RMAC First Team while sophomore Rylie Ottmann was named RMAC Honorable Mention.
• White was voted the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Jan. 29 after helping the Mountain Lions earn two home wins against Chadron State College (W, 66-58) and Colorado Christian University (90-68).  
• The 2024 RMAC All-Academic Teams will be announced on Wednesday, March 13.

ALL-TIME SERIES

• UCCS and CSU Pueblo only faced off once during the regular season with the Mountain Lions earning a 65-59 win at home over the Pack on March 1.  The win snapped a six-game losing streak to CSUP as UCCS is now 23-41 all-time against CSUP.

SCOUTING COLORADO STATE PUEBLO

• Colorado State Pueblo entered the RMAC playoffs as the No. 8 seed with an 11-11 league record (17-14 overall).  After dropping their last three games of the regular season, the ThunderWolves bounced back to upset No. 1 seed Colorado Mesa University this past Tuesday in Grand Junction, Colo. in the quarterfinal round.
• The Pack have the eighth highest scoring offense (65.6 points per game) and the fifth best scoring defense (64.0 points allowed per game) in the conference.  They hold the top spot for most blocks overall, averaging 5.6 blocks per game, while pulling in the fourth most rebounds per game (37.8).
• CSUP is led by the 2024 RMAC Defensive Player of the Year, Alisha Little.  Little leads all of Division II in blocks (113) and blocks per game (3.7), and she is second made field goals (240), points per game (20.4) and total rebounds (364), while her 11.7 rebounds per game are the fourth highest in Division II.

UCCS UNDER HEAD COACH MISTY WILSON

• Misty Wilson became the Mountain Lions head coach in April 2023.  In her first season at UCCS, Wilson catapulted the Mountain Lions from ninth place in the league standings last year, to a share of the conference title in 2023-24.  With the regular season complete, Wilson has led UCCS to 11 more wins than last season and nine more RMAC wins.  The Mountain Lions finished the 2022-23 season owning a 10-18 overall record and a 9-13 league record, to a 21-7 record this season (18-4 RMAC) heading into the conference tournament.

UP NEXT

• The winner between No. 4 UCCS and No. 8 CSU Pueblo will face the winner of the No. 2 Regis University and No. 3 Adams State University semifinal game.  The Rangers and Grizzlies will square off on Friday at 5 p.m., followed by the Mountain Lions game at 7 p.m. The 2024 RMAC Women's Basketball Championship Game is set for Saturday, March 9 at 5 p.m. at Regis Fieldhouse.

 
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 14 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.