Durango, Colorado – Looking to turn back-to-back road wins the Regis University Ranger women's basketball team fell short to the Fort Lewis Skyhawks (15-9, 12-8).  A close game throughout ended in favor of the Skyhawks 54-48, forcing the Rangers to drop to 15-9 overall and 11-9 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, and complicating the upcoming finish to the regular season.

Fort Lewis jumped out to an early 10-2 lead in the opening five minutes of play before the Rangers slowly began to work their way into the game.  For three minutes, RU held the Skyhawks at 13 points while they closed the gap, 13-10. 

With 4:30 remaining before the break, senior center Sarah Seefeldt (The Woodlands, Texas) tied the score for the first time, 18-18.  The score would tie once more before halftime but Fort Lewis would get the final say knocking down a late jumper.  The Rangers headed into the locker room with a two-point deficit, 24-22. 

Sophomore forward Karlyn Johnson (Littleton, Colorado) gave Regis their first lead of the game shortly after the start of the second half, 25-24.  The next few minutes resulted in a little back-and-forth between the two teams with the Skyhawks ultimately regaining control of the lead.  Fort Lewis extended the lead to eleven, 43-32, with 8:24 to play, the largest lead thus far. 

Down 12 at the 5:58 mark, the Rangers found a spark going on a 9-0 run capped by a three-pointer from junior guard Bay'lee Purdy (Agate, Colorado) to bring Regis within three, 47-44. 

The difference maker came in the form of free points as the Skyhawks visited the free throw line almost double the amount of times RU did resulting in 22 points.  Also, dramatically effecting Regis was the struggle they experienced from shooting behind the arc.  RU went just 1-26 from distance, their poorest night of shooting all season, allowing Fort Lewis to close out the final minutes securing the win over the Rangers.

Junior guard Caresse Williams (Citrus Heights, California) led all scorers with 16 going 5-12 from the field and 6-8 from the line while pulling down seven rebounds.  Johnson posted a double-double adding ten points and grabbing 13 boards. 

As a team, Regis attacked the offensive glass coming away with 16 rebounds but was overall just barely outrebounded, 43-42.  Forcing 18 turnovers resulted in 16 points but RU ran into scoring issues shooting 25.7 percent on the game. 

Regis now sits with nine losses in RMAC play and on the fringes of being left out of the tournament in seventh place.  Metro State (13-11, 10-10 RMAC), currently in the eigth and final seed, is one game behind the Rangers but holds the tiebreaker; both have two games remaining in the regular season. 

RU hosts UC-Colorado Springs (21-5, 16-4 RMAC) and Colorado State-Pueblo (15-9, 13-7 RMAC) on Friday, February 27 at 5:00 p.m. and Saturday, February 28 at 3 p.m.  UCCS, in second, is one game behind leading Colorado Mesa (19-4, 16-3 RMAC) and CSU-Pueblo holds steady in the four position.