CSU-Pueblo 85, UC-Colorado Springs 54
If you would have told CSU-Pueblo head women's basketball coach,
Kip Drown, that his best player, point guard Rachel Espinoza
(Jr., Pueblo, Colo.) was only going to score two points
and make zero field goals, he would have thought a UCCS win was
certainly in the cards.
But the ThunderWolves shrugged off a bad night by the two-time
RMAC Player of the Week, and still saw five players score in double
digits as the Pack scored an 85-54 win over UC-Colorado Springs,
claiming the women's basketball points in the "Steel and Silver
Series," the all-sports competition between CSU-Pueblo and
UC-Colorado Springs.
The Pack's night was defined by the three ball. The
ThunderWolves sank 15 threes, a school record, in just 24 attempts
for a .625 percentage from beyond the arc, the third-highest
single-game three point percentage in school history. The
Pack's long ball parade was led by Amanda Bartlett
(Jr., Kiowa, Colo.), who sank three treys en route to a
game and season-high 17 points, and Kami Dahlberg (Sr.,
Peyton, Colo.), who set a career high in scoring 11
points, sinking three three-pointers, also a career-high.
But the win had added importance as it awarded CSU-Pueblo its
first points in the "Steel and Silver Series." Coming in, the
Mountain Lions led CSU-Pueblo 18-0, on virtue of wins in men's and
women's soccer, volleyball, men's golf and women's cross
country. The school that claims the season series in
head-to-head competition is awarded four points for that
sport. CSU-Pueblo won the season series in women's
basketball, as Saturday's game was the season's only meeting
between the two schools. With five sports complete,
CSU-Pueblo now trails 18-4. For the Pack to win the series,
they must claim season series in men's basketball, softball,
women's indoor track and women's outdoor track.
The win also puts the Pack squarely in first place in the RMAC
West Division with a 3-0 conference record. CSU-Pueblo is the
only team in the West to be undefeated through two weekends of
conference play.
CSU-Pueblo will now travel to Las Vegas, Nev. for the Great
Western Shootout, where the Pack will take on Western Washington
and Central Washington.
