LUBBOCK, Tex. (November 11, 2022) - The Colorado State University Pueblo women's basketball team dropped its season opener against University of Texas at Tyler, 63-48 at the Carpet Tech Classic hosted by Lubbock Christian.
In the game,
Morgan Dial led with nine points and
JaNaiya Davis was close behind with seven points and eight rebounds to her record.
The ThunderWolves shot 30.8 percent from the field and was 10-of-35 (28.6%) from three-point land.
In the first quarter, CSU Pueblo scored the first basket of the game before UT Tyler took the lead 9-2 after going on a 9-0 run midway through the quarter. The ThunderWolves went 4-of-14 (28.6%) from the field in the opening quarter.
The ThunderWolves continued to battle in the second quarter and Dial was the spark off the bench and hit a pair of three-pointers.
The cold shooting in the second quarter from the Pack allowed for UTT to build a 37-19 lead at halftime.
Starting the second half, CSU Pueblo came out firing and hit back-to-back three-pointers from
Ro Dominguez and
Daeja Johnson to cut into the lead.
The Patriots offense matched the ThunderWolves scoring and continued their strong inside game and went ahead by a score of 46-26 with 6:26 left in the third before a CSU Pueblo timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, CSU Pueblo scored on the next possession to start a momentum change. The ThunderWolves caused a turnover and drew a foul on the Patriots defense, Hudson hit both of her free throw attempts to cut the lead down to 16.
A strong defensive possession resulted in Daeja Johnson hitting a three from the corner and get the score to 48-35 with just over three minutes left in the third.
CSU Pueblo finished the quarter with Dial connecting on another three-point shot and was quickly matched with a basket from UTT.
On the final possession of the quarter, CSU Pueblo was unable to get a shot off before the buzzer and went into the final quarter down 54-38.
In the fourth quarter,
Charisse Fairley hit a three with 8:41 left and the defense caused a turnover which gave the Pack the ball and Davis scored a layup to get the lead down to eleven with just under eight minutes left in the game.
The Pack defense held the Patriots scoreless over a 2:18 span which included a block from Dominguez and a shot-clock violation but the ThunderWolves were unable to capitalize as UTT would score the next four points and built a 60-46 lead with three minutes to play.
Over the final 2:33, CSU Pueblo was unable to find the basket and scored one basket over that time before falling, 63-48.
Texas-Tyler finished with four players in double figures.
CSU Pueblo (0-1) returns to the court tomorrow and will face host-Lubbock Christian starting at 5 p.m. (MT) in Lubbock, Texas.
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