PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo women's basketball concluded its four-game homestand here Saturday afternoon with an impressive 76-42 victory over Westminster University in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at Massari Arena.
 
With the win, the ThunderWolves improve to 13-7 overall on the season and moves into a three-way tie for second place in the RMAC standings with an 8-4 record, while Westminster falls to 4-16 overall and 3-9 in the league. The victory improved the Pack to 10-2 at home on the season.
 
The Pack's win was keyed by a strong middle two periods as the Pack outscored the Griffins, 40-24, including a 15-4 edge in the third quarter to push its 40-26 halftime lead to 55-29 heading into the final 10 minutes of the contest. The Pack scored over 15 points in all four periods of the games as they scored 25 points in the second period and 21 points in the final period.
 
Redshirt senior forward Alisha Little (Aurora, Colo./University of Northern Colorado) led the way offensively for the Pack as she tallied 33 points and 15 rebounds for her 16th double-double of the season. She also added a career-high tying eight steals, blocked four shots and had four assists. With her 33 points, Little moved within 11 points of the school's career scoring mark of 1,597 points held by Nadia Fercha as she has now scored 1,886 points in her Pack career. In addition, she has recorded 40 double-doubles in the Pack's last 52 games dating to the beginning of the 2023-24 season. Additionally, she is now just 336 points shy of Becky Hammon's state of Colorado all-time scoring record of 2,740 points as she has tallied 2,406 points between Northern Colorado and CSU Pueblo.
 
In addition to Little, junior guard Genesis Sweetwine (Aurora, Colo./Northeastern JC) scored a career-high 12 points and added six rebounds and four assists, while senior guard Landri Hudson (Aurora, Colo./University of Wyoming) chipped with eight points.
 
The Pack finished the game shooting a season-high 47.4 percent (27-for-57) from the field and was 5-for-18 (27.8 percent) from 3-point line in the win. Meanwhile, the Pack defense held Westminster to 26 percent (16-for-62) from the field and a 3-for-18 (16.7 percent) effort from the 3-point line and forced 22 turnovers that led to 23 points. The Pack also held a 44-22 edge in points in the paint.
 
The game was close early on as it was tied on two occasions with the final time being at 5-5 in the opening four minutes of the first period, before the Pack closed the period on 10-2 run to take a 15-7 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
 
The second period was a high scoring affair as the teams combined to 44 points and shoot 55.2 percent from the field as the Pack shot 69 percent (9-for-13) and Westminster shot 43.8 percent (7-16) from the field to help the Pack take a 40-26 halftime lead. Three of the Pack's four missed field goals came from the 3-point line in the period.
 
In the third period, the Pack outscored the Griffins, 15-4, including closing the period on a 13-0 run to take a 55-30 lead after three periods. Little and Sweetwine combined to score nine of those 13 points for the Pack.
 
The Pack's third period scoring run continued into the fourth period as they opened the period scoring six straight points to push its lead to 61-30 following a lay-up from senior guard Shamahra Henderson (Denver, Colo./Cowley County CC) to take a 61-30 lead just 79 seconds into the period.
 
Following that run, the Griffins, who have now lost five straight games in the series, scored seven of the next 11 points to cut the Pack's lead to 65-37 with 4:45 left in the game. But, the Pack closed the game on an 11-5 run and capped the scoring on lay-up by senior guard Tosjanae Bonds (Denver, Colo./MSU Denver) with 22 seconds remaining. Bonds' lay-up gave the Pack its largest lead of the game at 34 points.
 
Teuila Nawahine paced the Griffins with nine points, while Maia Rhay added seven points and Za'kkria Robinson had six points and eight rebounds in the loss.
 
The Pack held a 45-38 edge on the boards and collected 16 assists on 27 made baskets. The Pack also had 16 steals and blocked seven shots.
 
CSU Pueblo committed 17 turnovers and were 17-for-25 (68 percent) at the line. Westminster finished the game 7-for-11 (63.6 percent) at the line as the Pack committed just 11 fouls in the game.
 
The Pack will look to remain near the top of the league standings next week as they begin a span of playing three road games in 10 days as they open the stretch with a 5 p.m. game on Thursday, Feb. 6 in Spearfish, S.D., against Black Hills State, before playing a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, Feb. 8 in Chadron, Neb., against Chadron State and then concludes the road swing with a 6 p.m. game on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at Colorado Christian.