DENVER, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo women's basketball closed out the 2023-24 regular season here Saturday evening with a hard-fought 70-65 setback to Regis in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at Regis Field House.
 
With the setback, the ThunderWolves record falls to 16-14 overall and 11-11 in the RMAC and earned the No. 8 seed in the RMAC Tournament, while Regis improved to 23-5 overall and 18-4 in the league. The Pack will open the RMAC Tournament on Tuesday, March 6 in Grand Junction, Colo., against No. 1 seeded Colorado Mesa, who finished in a four-way tie for first place in the league standings but earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament due to tiebreakers. Tip-off for the RMAC Tournament quarterfinal game with the Mavericks is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
 
The Pack, who trailed by as much as 14 points with 4:38 left in the game, used a 17-8 run over a span of four-and-a-half minutes to pull within 68-65 following a lay-up by junior guard Tomia Johnson (Colorado Springs, Colo./Florida Gulf Coast) with 13 seconds left. The Rangers would cap the scoring with two free throws by Morgan L. Smith with 12 seconds remaining. CSU Pueblo was unable to pull off a miracle comeback with little time remaining and eventually fell by five points.
 
CSU Pueblo was led by redshirt junior forward Autumn Watts (Centennial, Colo./McNeese State) as she fell just short of a double-double, scoring 19 points and pulling down nine rebounds.
 
Redshirt junior forward Alisha Little (Aurora, Colo./Northern Colorado) had her eight-game double-double streak snapped on Saturday night, but still managed to put up solid numbers as she scored 17 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Little, who is the Division II leader in double-doubles, set the school's single season rebound mark with her offensive board with 5:26 left in the second quarter. She broke the old record of 340 set by Kathy Feroe in 1978-79.
 
The Pack did a good job early on getting Little good looks as the All-American was able to take seven shots in the first quarter. Little tossed in four points along with Watts, but despite the Pack feeding the two bigs, Regis took a 20-16 lead going into the second.
 
The Pack struggled from the field in the second quarter, only shooting 30 percent, but despite the shooting woes, the Pack clamped down on defense and held Regis to just 16 percent shooting in the quarter and outscored the Ranger 13-11 in the half to only trail 31-29 going into the break.
 
CSU Pueblo was unable to get Little going in the second as she only scored two points in the quarter. Watts had a solid quarter as she scored four more points and pulled down six boards in the quarter.
 
In the third quarter the Pack had a much better shooting quarter as CSU Pueblo shot 53 percent from the field. The ThunderWolves had another good defensive quarter as they held Regis to just 6-of-15 shooting from the field in the third, and outscored the Rangers by a point in the quarter.
 
Watts continued her solid game as she scored six more points in the quarter on 3-of-3 shooting from the field.
 
Trailing 47-46 going into the fourth quarter all the Pack needed to do was have another good defensive quarter and the game would tilt in their favor. Unfortunately, that did not happen as Regis opened the quarter on a 14-2 run to open a 14-point lead at 62-48.
 
With four minutes to play it was now or never for Tommie Johnson's squad. The Pack answered the call and went on a 13-3 run to cut the lead down to 65-61. With 30 seconds left to go, the Pack went to their workhorse Little and she made a driving layup to make the score 66-63.
 
A couple of free throws from Regis made the score 68-63, but Johnson quickly went down and made a layup to cut it to three with 13 seconds to go. The Pack tried to get a quick steal but could not and had to foul. A couple free throws iced the game with 12 seconds to play and the Pack were unable to complete the fierce comeback.