DENVER, Colo. – No. 4 seed University of Colorado Colorado Springs women's basketball team defeated No. 8 seed Colorado State University Pueblo Friday night in the semifinal round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship tournament.  The win advances UCCS to their first RMAC championship tournament game since 2017.  The Mountain Lions will face No. 2 seed Regis University on Saturday, March 9 at 5 p.m. inside Regis Fieldhouse.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP

• Final Score: UCCS 58, CSU Pueblo 54
• Records: (4) UCCS (23-7) | (8) CSUP (17-15)
• Facility | Location:  Regis Fieldhouse | Denver, Colo.
• All-Time Series: The Mountain Lions own a 24-41 all-time record against the ThunderWolves.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• On the Mountain Lions first possession of the game, Krystina Hagood made a bounce pass to Maison White who made up a fake pump before putting UCCS on the scoreboard with a layup, 2-0.  The ThunderWolves Alisha Little knotted the game on the next trip down the court before Hagood drained a long three-ball from the left wing.  Hagood added another assist to a slashing Sydney Nilles on the baseline for a reverse layup before Hagood added her own scoop shot under the basket for a 9-6 lead.  The Pack managed to tie the game at 9-9, but the Mountain Lions defense held CSUP without a point for the final two minutes of the first quarter while the black and gold went on a 7-0 run.  White notched five of the seven points during the run and finished the quarter on an old-fashioned three-point play that gave UCCS a 16-9 lead after 10 minutes of action.
• The momentum stalled for the Mountain Lions in the second stanza as the ThunderWolves opened with a 9-0 to snag a 17-16 lead for their first lead of the night.  UCCS missed on their first six field goal attempts of the quarter but a steal from Hagood led to a jumper from Emily Vidal to end the scoring drought and put UCCS back on top, 18-17.  The Mountain Lions found themselves trailing, 21-19 after Little sank a three-pointer and the and-one free throw, but White was quick to tie the game back up at 21-21 with 2:40 left in the game.  Down by three with 41 seconds left in the half, Nilles hit one-of-two free throws immediately followed by a steal from Amyah Moore Allen on the Pack's inbound pass.  Moore quickly connected with Desiree Smith to tie the game at 26-26, but a made free throw by CSUP with three seconds left gave the No. 8 seed a 27-26 lead at halftime.
• Free throws paced the third quarter for both teams.  Eight of UCCS' 17 points out of halftime came from the line as UCCS netted 8-of-10 but the Pack were successful on all seven of their attempts in the third frame.  Rylie Ottmann opened the quarter with a driving layup and hit and-one to give UCCS the lead back, 29-27.  The ThunderWolves went to work and tallied a 7-3 scoring run to take a 34-29 lead, but the Mountain Lions battled back.  A Mya Wilson jumper added by two free throws from Moore Allen and a three-pointer from the top of the key cut into the Pack's lead, 40-39.  UCCS closed out the third quarter on a steal from Breelyn Robinson that led to a three-point play by White as the black and gold held a 43-42 lead after three quarters of action.
• The ThunderWolves rolled to a 12-4 run to open the fourth quarter but again the Mountain Lions kept playing stingy defense and were steady on offense.  White snagged a defensive rebound to start the comeback and found Moore Allen for a driving layup to bring UCCS within five points, 54-49.  Robinson later forced a bad pass on a sideline in-bounds play that led to her hitting a wide-open three-pointer and forcing CSUP to call a timeout with only a two-point lead, 54-52.  The Mountain Lions drew an offensive charge on the Pack's top weapon, Little, as she fouled out with 3:09 left in regulation.  The Mountain Lions took advantage and ended the game on a 9-0 run, highlighted by White's bucket from an in-bounds set play that proved to be the game-winner, 56-54. 

 
GAME STATISTICS

• White notched her 11^th double-double of the season behind 19 points on 7-of-13 field goals and 5-of-6 free throws.  She reigned in a team high 10 rebounds and added one steal.
• Moore Allen was solid on both ends of the court, netting 17 points to go with eight caroms, three assists, three steals and two blocks.
• Robinson dished out three assists and stole the ball four times while adding four points on the offensive end of the court.
• UCCS netted 20-of-60 field goals (33.3 percent), 3-of-18 three-pointers (16.7 percent) and 15-of-24 free throws (62.5 percent).
• The Pack were led by Little's game high 31 points and 17 rebounds.  She added three blocks and two steals as teammate Romola Dominguez dished out a game high six assists.
• UCCS held the Pack's bench scoreless while holding the advantage from the bench (26-0), on second chance points (14-7), and points off turnovers (21-7).

 
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Moore Allen registered a career high eight rebounds as Robinson hit a new career mark in steals (four).
• White moves into the top 10 list for most career points.  She is now 10^th all-time with 982 points and is 18 points shy of reaching the 1,000^th point club.  Her 387 points this season are the fifth all-time in school history for a junior.
• White's 272 rebounds this season are the second most all-time in a season.  She needs 11 more caroms to take the top spot in school history.

 
UP NEXT

• UCCS will face fellow RMAC co-champion and host school Regis University tomorrow night in the championship game.  Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.

 
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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. Read Full Article