SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The Colorado State University Pueblo Women's Basketball squad picked up a huge come from behind road win over Westminster 59-58 to open up Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.

With the win, the ThunderWolves improve to 5-3 overall, and 1-0 in RMAC play, while the Griffins fall to 1-5 overall, and 0-1 in RMAC play. 

CSU Pueblo was led by Tomia Johnson (Colorado Springs, Colo./FGCU) as the senior point guard had a career-high 20 points on the night to lead all scorers. Johnson had an extremely efficient night on both ends. Johnson shot 8-19 from the field, and had two assists. Johnson, who is one of the best defensive guards in the conference, also had two steals and three blocks, including the game-winning steal that sealed the game. 

Alisha Little (Aurora, Colo./Northern Colorado) put together another double-double, as the reigning National Player of the Week had 15 points and 11 rebounds on what was an "off-night" for the two-time All-American. 

ABOUT THE WIN

The ThunderWolves trailed by 11 points entering the fourth quarter, but that did not take the fight out of the Pack. 

Down nine with a little more five minutes to play, the Pack finished on a 12-3 run to end the game.

Johnson made an acrobatic layup to cut the lead to seven at 56-49, prompting Head Coach Tommie Johnson to take a quick timeout to rally the troops.

A little bit less than a minute and a half went off the clock when Brynae Stewart (Colorado Springs, Colo./Pine Creek) made a layup on a dime from Johnson to make the score 56-51.

Yara Garcia (Scottsbluff, Neb./Western Nebraska) was huge on both ends of the floor down the stretch. Garcia blocked a huge shot in the paint that looked like an easy bucket for the Griffins, leading to a Little layup at the other end to make the score 56-53 with two minutes remaining.

On the next possession, Little stole a pass, giving it up to Garcia, who then made a tough one on one fastbreak layup to cut the lead to one at 56-55.

CSU Pueblo took their first lead of the fourth quarter with 1:30 left to go after a steal from Tosjanae Bonds (Denver, Colo./MSU Denver), leading to a fastbreak layup from Johnson.

Westminster retook the lead with 1:09 left to go, after a layup from Abby Conlee. Westminster had the ball back with 45 seconds, up by one, but a huge steal from Garcia and a coast to coast drive earned her a trip to the free throw line, where she made two clutch free throws to put the Pack up 59-58 with 39 seconds left.

Bonds had another huge steal with 34 seconds left, which prompted the Griffins to turn up their defense, but rather than electing to foul, Westminster decided to play out the shot clock and the ThunderWolves waited until six seconds left to fire up a shot.

Westminster did not have time to corral the ball, as Little picked up the offensive rebound, clinching the win for the Pack.

WORDS FROM HEAD COACH TOMMIE JOHNSON

"It was a physical game tonight. We did not start the way we wanted to, but the girls stayed in the fight. Tomia and Alisha made some big plays, but Tosjanae (Bonds) and Yara (Garcia) brought the energy and helped us win tonight."

UP NEXT FOR THE PACK

The Pack will travel from Salt Lake City to Gunnison, Colo. tomorrow to take on Western Colorado on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm.