PUEBLO, Colo. - The Colorado State University Pueblo women's basketball concluded its three-game home stand here Saturday with an exciting 82-78 overtime victory over Regis University in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at Massari Arena.
With the win, the ThunderWolves improve to 9-7 overall and 5-3 in the RMAC, while Regis fell to 0-12 overall and 0-8 in the league. The overtime game was the first for the Pack 77-75 double overtime win at South Dakota Mines on Dec. 16, 2021.
The Pack, who led for nearly 40 minutes in the game, withstood nine ties and four lead changes, including the Rangers sending the game into overtime on a three-pointer that was banked in by Kate Gallery with eight seconds left in regulation.
In overtime, the Pack never trailed as they outscored the Rangers, 10-6, in the extra session to secure the win and improve to 5-4 at home this season.
Senior guard
Destiny Smith (Tulsa, Okla./Cloud County CC) opened the scoring in overtime with a trey, and after two free throws by Jessica Bollwahn brought RU within 75-74, senior guard
Seneya Martinez (Windsor, Colo./Appalachian State) drilled a trey with 3:41 left to give the Pack a 78-74 lead. Senior guard
Genesis Sweetwine (Aurora, Colo./Northeastern JC) hit a trey with 1:56 left to give the Pack an 81-76 lead and junior forward
Dasani Nesbit (Billings, Mont./Gillette College) made 1-of-2 free throws with 1:21 left to give the Pack an 82-76 lead. Regis' Kaylin Venick capped the scoring in overtime on a lay-up with 39 seconds left.
Senior guard
Ruby Sweeney-Spitzeck (Melbourne, Australia/Idaho State) paced the Pack offense with a career-high 29 points, including going 7-for-9 from the field and 6-for-8 from the 3-point line. In addition, Sweeney-Spitzeck, Martinez added 22 points, while Sweetwine tallied 15 points and six assists in the win, and Nesbit had seven points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
Gallery's triple to send the game into overtime helped Regis make up a four-point deficit heading into the final period, as Regis trailed 58-54 after three periods of play. In the fourth period, Regis outscored the Pack, 18-14, to force overtime.
Gallery paced Regis with a game-high 28 points and added 10 rebounds, while Bollwahn had 20 points and nine rebounds for the Rangers. Venick added 12 points and seven boards and Emily Allison chipped in with 10 points off the bench.
The Pack jumped out to a 16-10 lead in the opening six minutes of the game, before Regis used five straight points from Gallery to cut the Pack lead to 16-15 with 2:56 left. The Pack, though, used a Sweetwine trey with 2:30 left in the period to give the Pack a 19-16 lead after the opening 10 minutes of play.
Sweeney-Spitzeck opened the second period by hitting four straight treys to help the Pack push its lead to 31-23 with 5:28 left in the period. Regis, though, closed the period on a 13-6 run to cut the Pack's lead to 37-36 at halftime. Sweeney-Spitzeck and Martinez combined to score 26 of the Pack's 37 first-half points.
In the third period, the Pack scored 10 of the first 14 points to push its lead back out to seven points at 47-40 with 5:24 left in the period. The run began with a Sweeney-Spitzeck trey and was capped by a Martinez trey. Regis came right back and scored 14 of the next 21 points to force a tie at 54. The Pack, though, closed the period with back-to-back baskets by Martinez to hold its 58-54 lead heading to the final period.
For the game, the Pack shot 49 percent from the field and 45 percent (13-for-29) from the 3-point line, while Regis shot 43 percent from the field and 35 percent (9-for-26) from the 3-point line.
Regis held a 41-31 edge on the boards, including collecting 15 offensive boards that led to 13 second-chance points. The Rangers also won the turnover battle (13-12), but the Pack scored 11 points off of Regis' 12 turnovers.
CSU Pueblo had 15 assists on 25 made baskets, and Regis had 14 assists on 30 made baskets.
The Pack, though, was strong at the free throw line as they shot 70 percent (19-for-27) at the line, including Sweeney-Spitzeck going 9-for-10 from the free throw line. Regis finished the game 9-for-12 (75 percent) at the free throw line.
The Pack will return to action next Thursday, Jan. 22, as they begin a four-game road trip with a 5:30 p.m. game at Adams State (13-5, 7-1 RMAC). The road game will be the second road game in the 2026 calendar year for the Pack.
