Box Score DENVER, Colo. – Bay'lee Purdy etched her name into the all-time Regis University Ranger women's basketball record books scoring game-high 16 points helping to guide the Rangers to an impressive 78-52 win over the Western State Mountaineers. At the 7:59 minute mark in the fourth quarter, in typical fashion, Purdy became the 18th player in Regis history to score 1,000 career points draining one from distance.
What some accomplished in four years, Purdy has done in just three seasons at Regis. With the second half of the season remaining to play, Purdy now currently sits in the record books at No. 17 with 1,002 points passing Denise Durant (1979-1983) who scored 1,000 even.
Continuing the season trend, RU shared the basketball and put together yet another all-around team victory tallying 20 assists on the afternoon, led by Jessica Ramos with six. The Rangers controlled possession and pace of the game from the start opening the first quarter strong with a 7-0 lead and continuing on to outscore the Mountaineers 20-9 after just one quarter of play.
Regis continued applying strong defense in the second quarter holding Western State to just ten points to give themselves a 33-19 lead at the break. A 12-5 run in the opening minutes of the third quarter pushed the Ranger lead to a comfortable distance, 45-24.
The Mountaineer scoring drought lasted throughout the remainder of the third but the visitors were finally able to find the bottom of the net more frequently in the fourth but RU had ultimately pushed the lead far enough ahead making the deficit too large to comeback.
The Rangers scored 27 points off of 20 forced Western State turnovers while also winning the battle of the boards 34-30. Of the 34 total rebounds, Regis scored 16 points off of 14 offensive boards. RU also went 29-60 from the field to finish shooting 48.3 percent, their best this season.
Caresse Williams and Kaylie Rader both chipped in with 12 apiece combining for 10-of-16 from the field. Rader, Karlyn Johnson, and Shelby Espinosa each had a team-high six rebounds with Espinosa leading the charge on the offensive front pulling down four, all four of which coming in the final two minutes of play.
Regis will travel to Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines next on Friday, January 8 at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, January 9 at 3:30 p.m.
