GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (March 6, 2015) – The No. 4 seed Colorado State University-Pueblo led from start to finish en route to a 61-51 upset of top-seed Colorado Mesa University in the RMAC Shootout semifinals Friday at Brownson Arena. With the win, the ThunderWolves advance to Saturday's title game against No. 3 seed Colorado Christian University. The contest is slated to begin at 7 p.m.
CSU-Pueblo improves to 18-10 on the season and halts the Mavericks 52-game home winning streak. Colorado Mesa's record drops to 23-5.
After shooting just 1-for-16 from 3-point range in the regular-season matchup against the Mavericks, the Pack bounced back in a big way Friday, knocking down 9-of-23 attempts from beyond the arc. Overall, CSU-Pueblo shot 42.0 percent (21-of-50) from the field, while holding Colorado Mesa to just 32.7 percent (16-of-49) shooting.
CSU-Pueblo assisted on 16 out of its 21 baskets and turned the ball over a season low seven times.
Ashley Piper (Jr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa) paced the Pack with 16 points. Katie Nehf (Sr., Broomfield, Colo.) and Tuileisu Anderson (Fr., Vancouver, Wash.) both scored in double figures with 13 and 11, respectively. Ana Gurau (Jr., Longmont, Colo.) added nine points, a career-high nine rebounds and a contest-best five assists.
Shanna Halalilo scored a game-high 20 points for the home team, while Leanndra Gilbert notched a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
The ThunderWolves got on the scoreboard at the 18:23 mark of the first half thanks to a layup by Piper. From that bucket on CSU-Pueblo never trailed in the game.
The Pack ballooned their lead to 11, at 18-7, on a 3-pointer by Dee Arrieta (Jr., Pueblo West, Colo.) with 9:40 left until halftime.
Colorado Mesa managed to trim the deficit to seven, at 24-17, at the 2:15 mark, but the visitors closed the half on a 7-0 run to take a 31-17 lead into the intermission. Anderson capped the first-half scoring with one of her three 3-pointers in the contest with six seconds on the game clock.
In the second half, the ThunderWolves led by as many as 14 points on three separate occasions. The Mavericks pulled to within seven points twice, but CSU-Pueblo had an answer for every Colorado Mesa run.
Leading by seven with 1:08 remaining until the final horn, the Pack iced the game by making three out of four free throws in the final minute to seal the 61-51 victory.
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Colorado State University – Pueblo competes in 22 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.
