DENVER, Colo. – The Regis University women's basketball team yet again showed great resiliency but could not launch a strong enough comeback falling 76-65 to the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets to split in the second weekend of conference play.
The Rangers look uncharacteristically out of sync at the start of the game only scoring ten first quarter points and seven in the second quarter. Black Hills State shot the ball out of the gym in the first and barely slowed down in the second as Regis headed into halftime down 45-17.
With their work cut out for them and knowing it was not going to be easy, RU began to slowly etch away at the BHSU lead. Jessica Ramos put up ten third quarter points knocking down crucial three's and free throws. Ranger defense was able to hold the visitors to just 11 in the third quarter.
Regis kept battling and ramped up the full-court defensive pressure in an attempt to force the Yellow Jackets into turnovers and they did just that; RU forced nine second half turnovers.
With just under five minutes to play, Caresse Williams finished a layup at the rim as she was fouled and stepped to the line to knock down an and-one bringing the deficit 60-50. Ramos, still hot, drained one from beyond the arc at the 3:59 mark dropping the lead to single-digits, 62-53.
However, BHSU seemed to always have a response on the offensive end. The Rangers could climb out of the first half scoring troubles and move to an overall record of 3-6 and 1-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Ramos reached a season-high 18 points to lead all scorers going 5-of-10 from the field, 4-of-7 from distance, and 5-of-5 from the line. The Rangers saw help from Williams with 14 and Kaylie Rader added 12. Rader posted back-to-back double-doubles pulling down 14 boards, her most this season.
RU outrebounded Black Hills State 40-33 and pulled down 15 offensive rebounds to the Yellow Jackets nine. Regis finished the game shooting 32 percent from the field, 36 percent from three, and 87 percent from the charity stripe but it would prove to be the slow first-half start that ultimately did the Rangers in.
Regis will have one more weekend of RMAC action before the holiday break traveling to UC-Colorado Springs Friday, December 18 at 5:30 p.m. and then to Metro State Saturday, December 19 at 5 p.m.
