SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Colorado State University Pueblo women's basketball closed out its first road trip of the 2024 calendar year here Saturday by using a strong middle two quarters to post a 67-58 victory over Westminster University in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at Behnken Fieldhouse.

With the victory, the ThunderWolves improved to 8-7 overall and 3-4 in the RMAC, while Westminster fell to 2-11 overall, 0-7 in the RMAC.

After holding a 12-10 lead after the opening quarter, the Pack outscored the Griffins 39-30 in the second and third quarters to hold a 51-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Pack outscored Westminster, 18-5 in the second period to take 30-15 lead at the half.

Redshirt junior forward Alisha Little (Aurora, Colo./University of Northern Colorado) continued to pace the Pack offensively as she tallied a game-high 18 points and added six rebounds and four blocked shots in the victory. The six rebounds snapped Little's streak of three consecutive double-doubles as she leads Division II with 10 double-doubles on the season.

In addition to Little, redshirt junior forward Autumn Watts (Centennial, Colo./McNeese State) added 14 points and five rebounds, while freshman forward Leilani Love (Albuquerque, N.M./Albuquerque) had eight points as the Pack outscored the Griffins, 38-28, in the paint.

In the third quarter, the Pack pushed its 15-point halftime lead to as much as 18 points following a lay-up by Love with 1:24 left in the quarter. The lay-up gave the Pack a 51-33 lead. Following Love's lay-up, the Griffins closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to drop the Pack's lead to 50-41 heading into the final quarter.

Westminster shot 83 percent from the field and was 4-for-4 from the free throw in the period, while the Pack shot 50 percent from both the field and 3-point line and was 4-for-5 from the free throw line.

The Griffins outscored the Pack, 18-16 in the fourth quarter to set the final margin at nine points.

One of the biggest keys to the Pack victory was their ability to force turnovers as they turned the Griffins over 23 times and scored 21 points off those turnovers. In the first half, the teams combined for 26 turnovers with Westminster committing 17 turnovers that led to 17 points for the Pack, while the Pack had nine turnovers, but just two in the second quarter. The Griffins scored six points off the Pack's nine miscues in the first half.

Westminster was paced offensively by 13 points and six boards from Jaycee Lichtie and 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds from Za'kkria Robinson. Elizabeth Means and Teulia Nawahine each had 10 points for the Griffins.

For the game, the Pack shot 45 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line, while Westminster finished the contest shooting 40 percent from the field and was just 1-for-11 (9.1 percent) from the 3-point line.

Both teams were strong at the line as Westminster was 11-for-12 (92 percent) and the Pack was 13-for-18 (72 percent) at the line, including a 9-for-11 effort at the line in the second half.

The Pack was outrebounded 41-23, including the Griffins holding a 15-5 edge on the offensive boards. Each team blocked four shots and the Pack collected 10 steals, including three from junior guard Shamahra Henderson (Denver, Colo./Cowley County CC) led with three steals.

The Pack will return to action next Friday, Jan. 12 as they begin a three-game homestand with a 5:30 p.m. game against 19th-ranked Colorado School of Mines, before hosting MSU Denver on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 4 p.m. and then concluding the homestand with a 5:30 p.m. game on Tuesday, Jan. 16 against New Mexico Highlands.