RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Colorado State University Pueblo women's basketball team used a dominant second half and 11 3-pointers here Saturday afternoon as they posted an impressive 70-60 victory over South Dakota Mines in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at the King Center.

With the win, the ThunderWolves improve to 6-5 overall and 3-1 in the RMAC, while South Dakota Mines fell to 4-6 overall and suffered their first league loss of the season as they are now 3-1 in the league play.

The Pack, who led 28-22 at half, used a 25-point third quarter that was keyed by 56.3 percent shooting from the field and 66.7 percent shooting from the 3-point line to take control of the game. The Pack led 53-42 after three quarters of play.

The third quarter proved decisive as senior guard Seneya Martinez (Aurora, Colo./Appalachian State) ignited an 8–0 run midway through the frame with a fast-break layup followed by a three-pointer, pushing the CSU Pueblo lead to 38–25. The Pack stretched the advantage to as many as 15 points following a lay-up from junior forward Dasani Nesbit (Billings, Mont./Gillette College).

In the fourth period, the Pack scored four of the first six points to lead 57-44, before the Hardrockers used a 10-3 run to drop the Pack's lead to 60-54 with 5:10 left in the game. That would be as close as the Hardrockers would get as back-to-back treys from Martinez and senior guard Ruby Sweeney-Spitzeck (Melbourne, Australia/Idaho State) jump started a 10-2 run by the Pack to push its lead to 70-56 with 1:18 left in the game. In fact, Sweeney-Spitzeck capped the drive with a trey. SDM would score the final four points of the game to cap the scoring.

Martinez paced the Pack offense with 20 points, including scoring 13 of those points in the second half. In addition to Martinez, Sweetwine added 10 points, while Sweeney-Spitzeck and junior guard Wynter Jones (Dallas, Texas/Blinn College) each had eight points in the win.

Nesbit helped the Pack finish the game with a 27-25 edge on the boards as she had a game-high seven rebounds and added seven points and a career-high tying six assists. Jones also tallied six boards in the win.

For the game, the Pack shot 46.2 percent from the field and was 11-for-23 (47.8 percent) from the 3-point line, while South Dakota Mines finished the game shooting 38.6 percent from the field and just 15.8 percent (3-for-19) from the 3-point line.

Neither team was very efficient in the first period as the two teams combined to 3-for-19 from the field as two of the three field goals were 3-pointers by the Pack as they led 9-8 after the opening 10 minutes of action thanks to going 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Six of Mines' eight points in the period came from the free throw line.

In the period, the Pack was 2-for-11 from the field, including being 2-for-5 from the 3-point line, while South Dakota Mines was 1-for-8 from the floor and 0-for-3 from the 3-point line.

The Pack opened the second period on a 7-4 run to jump in front 16-12, before the Hardrockers scored eight of the next 12 points to tie the game at 20 with 3:51 left in the period. After both teams took turns holding the lead, the Pack used a back-to-back treys in the final 47 seconds of the period from Sweeney-Spitzeck and junior forward Anyla Owens (Colorado Springs, Colo./Otero JC) to take a 28-22 halftime lead.  

South Dakota Mines was paced by 17 points from Savea Mansfield, while Morning Grace Spotted Bear added 14 points and Addison Miranda had 12 points in the setback.

The Pack forced the Hardrockers into 15 turnovers that led to 18 points for the Pack, while the Pack had 12 turnovers and held a 19-10 edge in points off the bench.

Both teams were strong at the free throw line as the Pack was 11-for-13 (84.6 percent) at the line, including a 5-for-5 effort in the second half, while South Dakota Mines was 23-for-24 (95.8 percent) at the line.

The Pack will conclude its pre-Christmas schedule on Wednesday, Dec. 17 with a 6 p.m. non-conference game at Northern New Mexico. The Pack collected a 73-49 win over Northern New Mexico at home on Nov. 29.