SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Colorado State University Pueblo women's basketball team dropped a nail-biter on Saturday evening 66-64 to Black Hills State on the road in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at the Donald E. Young Center.

With the loss, the Pack fall to 11-10 overall and 6-7 in the RMAC, while Black Hills State improves to 11-5 overall and 8-4 in the RMAC. Colorado Christian fell to UCCS on Saturday evening to keep CSU Pueblo and Colorado Christian in a tie for eighth place in the league.

CSU Pueblo had their chances in the game as they were leading 32-19 at the half after shooting 46 percent on 12-of-26 shooting from the field in the first two quarters. The second half was a different story for Black Hills State as they 46 points in the last two quarters on 58 percent shooting.

Redshirt junior forward Alisha Little (Aurora, Colo./Northern Colorado) led the Pack once again in scoring as she had 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting and seven rebounds. Little also recorded two blocks to up her season total to 69, which leads all of NCAA Division II.

Redshirt junior forward Autumn Watts (Centennial, Colo./McNeese St.) put together another solid performance as she scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and hauled in seven rebounds. Watts also had three blocks and three assists.

Junior guard Tomia Johnson (Colorado Springs, Colo./Florida Gulf Coast) had a fantastic night as she scored 12 points, pulled down four rebounds, and had five steals. Johnson continues to be one of the best defensive guards in the RMAC as she now has 48 steals on the season.

The Pack had a great start to the game as they jumped out 10-0 in the first five minutes of the game after buckets from Little, Watts, and junior guard Yara Garcia (Scottsbluff, Neb./Western Nebraska). Black Hills State answered with six straight points from Alessia Capley and Jaylen Ostenson, but CSU Pueblo finished the quarter strong on a 6-0 run of their own after back to back threes from Johnson and junior guard Shamahra Henderson (Denver, Colo./Cowley County CC) to lead 16-6 after one period.

CSU Pueblo continued to dominate at the start of the second period as they extended their lead to 13 with little resistance from the Yellow Jackets. Junior guard Landri Hudson (Aurora, Colo./Wyoming) scored four quick points and a bucket from guard Romola Dominguez (Denver, Colo./Central Arkansas) got the Pack rolling in quarter number two. Ostenson answered with a three to cut the lead back to 10. After some back and forth between the two squads, Hudson got back in on the action with an and-1 to score her seventh point of the quarter and a free throw from Watts made the score 27-16. Black Hills State cut the lead to eight after Gracie Haneborg and Raven Cournoyer scored a a quick five points, but Watts finished the quarter strong as she scored the final five points of the quarter after another Cournoyer three to take a 32-19 lead into the break.

Cournoyer continued to shoot the ball well as she started the third quarter off with another trey, but Little answered right back and the lead remained at 13. Black Hills State responded with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to six, but Dominguez quieted the crowd as she drilled a three to put the Pack up by nine. Cournoyer continued to shoot lights out as she hit a three to cut the lead back to six at 38-32 and some back and forth between the two squads eventually found the Pack's lead diminished down to three at the end of the third at 45-42 as the Yellow Jackets outscored the Pack by 10 in the period.

Hanneborg started the fourth quarter off with a put-back layup but Dominguez answered on the next possession for CSU Pueblo to get the lead back to three. Black Hills State answered with a mini 4-0 run to take their first lead of the game 48-47. The Yellow Jackets continued their hot second-half shooting as CSU Pueblo just could not get a timely stop when they needed to.
The Yellow Jackets eventually found themselves up by four at 53-49, but the resilient ThunderWovles would not go away as Little and Johnson scored four straight points of their own to tie it back up at 53 apiece. Cournoyer hit a layup on the next possession down the court, but CSU Pueblo regained the lead after Watts nailed a three to make it 56-55.

With both teams throwing haymakers, the Pack eventually distanced themselves at 61-56 with 3:50 to go when Little scored five straight points after Black Hills State had tied it briefly. With 3:23 left to go in the contest the Pack could smell victory but once again the Yellow Jackets would not die.

Hammerbeck nailed a three to cut the CSU Pueblo lead to two at 61-59, but Watts answered again on her stellar night to get the Pack lead back to four. A mini 4-0 run from the Yellow Jackets tied the affair again at 63.

With the score tied at 63 and 30 seconds to go in the game Kayvee Groves was fouled and hit 1-of-2 free throws to give Black Hills State a one point lead. Back at the other end with 17 seconds to go, the Pack fed the ball into Little and consequently she was fouled. Little made the first and missed the second. Down at the other end, Kalla Bertram hit the dagger with two seconds to go on a wild off-balanced shot to win the game for the Yellow Jackets 66-64.

The tough loss for the Pack keeps them in a tie for eighth place with Colorado Christian. The Pack return to action in an RMAC affair with Regis on Feb. 2 at 5:30 p.m. here in Pueblo at Massari Arena. Regis extended their win streak to nine games with a 91-56 win tonight over Chadron State. Regis sits in second place in the RMAC with a 16-3 overall record and 11-2 record in the league.