DENVER, Colo. – After playing to a 35-all tie at the half, Colorado State Pueblo women's basketball was outscored 40-28 in the second half by Regis University as the ThunderWolves fell 75-63 to the Rangers in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at Regis Fieldhouse.
With the setback, CSU Pueblo falls to 10-10 overall and 7-7 in the RMAC, while Regis extended its winning streak to 10 consecutive games and improves its record to 14-5 overall and 11-2 in the league. With the loss, the Pack moves into a tie for seventh place in the league standings with UCCS.
Friday's game was a tale of two halves for the Pack as they shot 42 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line to be tied at 35 at the half with the home team, before shooting 38 percent from the field and 21 percent from the 3-point line in the second half and being outscored by 12 points.
Meanwhile, Regis went from shooting 37 percent from the field and 25 percent from the 3-point line in the first half to shooting 54 percent from the field and 36 percent from the 3-poiint line after halftime.
Sophomore guard
Landri Hudson (Aurora, Colo./Wyoming) led the way offensively for the Pack with 16 points, including scoring 14 of those 16 points in the first half. In addition to Hudson, graduate student forward
Charisse Fairley (Colorado Springs, Colo./Fresno State), graduate student guard
JaNaiya Davis (Hewitt, Texas/Midway) and graduate student
Morgan Dial (Denver City, Texas/Western Texas College) each scored nine points in the loss.
With her nine points, Davis made history as she became the fifth player in school history to record 1,400 career points and has now tallied 1,402 points in her five year career at CSU Pueblo. Davis also added eight rebounds, three assists and one steal in her 39 minutes of action. Those three assists pushed her career total to 497, which is four shy of Suzanne Gonzales' school record of 501 assists, which was set from 1985-89.
Regis jumped out to an 13-7 lead just a little over five minutes into the game and led 18-10 with 2:54 left in the opening period, when the Pack used back-to-back lay-ups from Davis and sophomore guard
Tomia Johnson (Colorado Springs, Colo./Florida Gulf Coast) to pull within 18-14 with two minutes remaining.
After the Rangers scored five of the next eight points to push out to a 23-15 lead, Hudson would drill a trey right before the buzzer to help pull the Pack within 23-20 after the opening 10 minutes of play.
The Pack opened the second quarter by scoring seven of the first 11 points to tie the game at 27 following a trey in the left corner from senior guard
Jalen Long (Moreno Valley, Calif./Eastern Arizona) with 6:07 left in the quarter.
After Regis retook the lead, Fairley retied the game at 29 with 3:46 left on her step-back jumper in the lane and then took its first lead of the game at 30-29 after Hudson made 1-of-2 free throws with 3:09 remaining. On its next trip downcourt, Regis retook the lead thanks to two free throws from Josey Ryan with 2:41 left in the half.
Hudson would once again retie the game at 33 following her trey with 1:21 left in the period, but that lead was shortlived again as Regis' Erin Fry hit two free throws with 1:09 left to give the Rangers a 35-33 lead, but Hudson hit a lay-up with six seconds left to tie the game at 35 at the half.
Regis opened the second half on an 8-2 run to turn a 35-all tie at the half into a 43-37 lead just four-plus minutes into the third quarter.
After the Pack scored five of the next eight points to pull within 46-42, the Rangers responded with a 12-0 scoring run to take a 58-42 lead with 1:35 left in the quarter.
The Pack stopped a nearly three minute scoreless streak with a 3-pointer from Dial with 1:21 left in the period. Dial's trey made the score 58-45.
After a driving lay-up from Davis brought the Pack within 58-47, Fry would hit two free throws with 25 seconds left to hold a 60-47 lead after three quarters.
In the third quarter, the Pack were outscored, 25-12 as they were 5-for-14 (35.7 percent) from the field and 1-for-5 (20 percent) from the 3-point line, while Regis was 6-for-11 (55 percent) from the floor and 3-for-7 (42.9 percent) from downtown.
The Rangers, who has now won 11 of its last 12 games overall, opened the fourth quarter on a 10-4 run to push out to a 70-51 lead with 5:35 left in the game. That 19 point lead was the largest of the game for Regis, who is now 6-1 at home in RMAC play.
Following that run by the Rangers, the Pack would mount a late rally as they scored 12 of the next 14 points to cut Regis' lead to 72-63 with 1:10 left in the game. The run began with a trey from Dial and was capped by a lay-up and a free throw from Davis.
Regis, though, would score the final three points of the game to seal the victory.
Ryan led the way offensively for Regis with a game-high 23 points and added nine rebounds. In addition to Ryan, Frey added 17 points, five rebounds and nine assists, while Sam Deem had 16 points and six boards. A fourth Ranger just missed double-digits in scoring as Erin Stroberg had nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
For the game, CSU Pueblo shot 40 percent from the field and 29 percent from the 3-point line, while Regis shot 45 percent from the floor and 30 percent from the 3-point line.
Regis won the battle on the boards, 44-31 as along with Davis' eight boards, senior guard
Amaya Lewis (Hobbs, N.M./New Mexico JC) pulled down a season-high six boards for the Pack.
CSU Pueblo won the turnover battle as they forced the Rangers into 17 turnovers that led to 17 points. The Pack committed 14 turnovers in the game.
The Rangers also finished the game 16-for-20 (80 percent) from the free throw line, while CSU Pueblo was 4-for-8 (50 percent) at the line.
Regis dished out 14 assists, while CSU Pueblo had nine assists. Both teams blocked two shots in the game.
The Pack, who are off on Saturday, will next be in action on Friday, Feb. 3 as they travel to Durango, Colo., for a 5:30 p.m. game against Fort Lewis. The Pack picked up 61-46 win over Fort Lewis in Pueblo on Dec. 10.