PUEBLO, Colo. – Redshirt junior forward
Alisha Little (Aurora, Colo./Northern Colorado) tallied a double-double of a career-high 30 points and a career-high 18 rebounds en route to helping the ThunderWolves women's basketball team to an impressive 79-57 victory over South Dakota Mines in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at Massari Arena.
With the victory, the Pack snaps a three-game losing skid and improve to 6-6 overall and 2-3 in the RMAC, while South Dakota Mines falls to 1-9 overall and 1-4 in the league. The victory also helped the Pack improve to 5-1 on the season.
Friday's game marked the final game the pre-Christmas schedule for the Pack as they won't return to action until Sunday, Dec. 31 as they host New Mexico Highlands in a non-conference game at 12 p.m.
Little's double-double was her NCAA Division II leading eighth of the season and 13th of her Pack career. She had 19 points and 10 rebounds in the first half to help the Pack hold a 46-34 lead at the half.
In addition to Little, redshirt junior forward
Autumn Watts (Centennial, Colo./McNeese State) added 12 points, while freshman forward
Leilani Love (Albuquerque, N.M./Albuquerque) tallied 10 points and four rebounds. Graduate student guard
Romola Dominguez (Denver, Colo./Central Arkansas) had a season-high eight points and added five assists.
The Pack finished the game shooting 44 percent from the field but shot just 19 percent (5-for-27) from the 3-point line and tied a season-high with 20 assists and tied a season high with nine blocks as Little recorded four blocks, while Watts had three blocks and Love finished with two blocks in the win.
CSU Pueblo jumped out to a 13-0 lead just a little over five minutes into the game and the Pack led 19-4 with 3:20 left in the opening half, before the Hardrockers closed the first quarter on an 8-7 run to cut the Pack's lead to 26-12 after the first quarter. Little, who had 11, and junior guard
Tomia Johnson (Colorado Springs, Colo./Florida Gulf Coast), who had six points, combined for 17 of the Pack's 26 points in the quarter.
The Hardrockers would outscore the Pack, 22-20, in the second quarter to cut the Pack's lead to 46-34 at the half. The Pack are now 5-1 on the season when leading at the half.
CSU Pueblo would open the third quarter by scoring the 11 of the first 14 points to push out to 57-37 lead with 4:23 left in the quarter following a lay-up and free throw by Little to complete a 3-point play. SDM, though, responded with a 6-2 run to pull within 59-43 with 2:45 left in the period. The Pack would answer back by closing the quarter on a 9-4 run to hold a 68-47 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
The Pack, who outscored the Hardrockers, 11-10, in the final quarter would eventually grow its lead to 79-55 following a lay-up by freshman guard
Jolene Ramiro (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest) with 1:27 left in the game. Madelyn Heiser capped the scoring for the Hardrockers a lay-up with 48 seconds left in the game.
Savea Mansfield paced South Dakota Mines with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Piper Bauer added 14 points in the loss.
The Hardrockers finished the game shooting 34 percent from the field and 21 percent from the 3-point line.
The Pack held a 45-42 edge on the boards, including 19 offensive rebounds as Little pulled down 10 of those offensive boards. The Pack held a 19-14 edge in second chance points.
CSU Pueblo forced SDM into 23 turnovers that led to 22 points, while the Pack finished with 16 turnovers.
The Pack also struggled at the free throw line in Friday's win as they made just eight of its 16 (50 percent) free throws, while SDM was 12-for-14 (86 percent) at the line.
