RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Regis University women's basketball team (5-6, 4-2 RMAC) earned their fourth conference win of the season after coming away from a double-overtime thriller with a 77-75 win over South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (7-4, 3-3 RMAC) on Saturday afternoon.
 
How it Happened: The Rangers won the opening tip-off and their first possession ended in a made three-pointer by senior Chante Church after two offensive rebounds. Regis had the lead for five straight minutes until the Lady Hardrockers knocked down two-free throws to tie the score at five.
 
Church hit back-to-back three pointers in a span of 30 seconds to push RU to a 13-7 advantage with 3:15 to play in the first quarter. Neither team converted a field goal in the last 2:45 of the opening quarter, but the Rangers made three shots from the charity stripe and held a 15-10 advantage after 10 minutes of play.
 
The Lady Hardrockers opened the second period with a 5-0 run to tie the game at 15, but it was another layup by Church that kept SD Mines from taking the lead.  Regis exploded on offense for a 12-0 run, giving them their largest lead of the game, 33-18.
 
Two RU turnovers in the last minute of the half led to eight straight points for the Lady Hardrockers.
 
SD Mines closed the Rangers 32-26 halftime lead shortly after the third quarter started. They went on a 9-0 run and took the lead 35-34 with 4:56 left in the quarter. The teams traded buckets throughout the rest of the third, it was a Lady Rockets layup with five seconds left that made the score 47-45.
 
The biggest lead of the fourth quarter was 55-48 in Regis' favor at the 7:10 mark. They let SD Mines score their way back into it. RU led by two-points until the Lady Hardrockets made a go-ahead three-pointer with 2:13 remaining. Senior Mary Sigler made two-free throws to tie the game at 59. The score stayed knotted for the last 1:57 of the game, sending the contest to overtime.
 
The lead was never greater than three-points throughout the first overtime period as both scored nine points to go into second overtime. Sigler scored six of the Ranger nine overtime points.
 
Regis found themselves down by three, 75-72, with 57 seconds left to play. Sigler made a difficult layup with 42 to cut the deficit to one. On the next SD Mines possession, Junior Shelby Espinosa was in great rebounding position as she forced the Lady Hardrockers to foul her, sending her to the free-throw line.
 
Espinosa made the first free shot off the front rim of the basket. Her second attempt was too far right, but resulted in RU's possession after the ball went out-of-bounds. The Rangers in-bounded the ball with 18 seconds to play, senior Majestie Robinson drove into the lane before turning and passing to Churh, who nailed a game-winning jumper from the top of the key with eight seconds remaining in the second overtime. SD Mines had one last chance to tie the game or win, but their last second shot bounced off the back of the rim.
 
Game Notes:  Church had a season-high 24 points behind five three-pointers. She went 5-for-12 from downtown and 9-for-17 from the field. Sigler added 23 of her own points, shooting 3-for-9 from three-point range and 8-for-17 from the field. Robinson scored only four points but added a career-high 12 assists. 
 
Regis' shooting percentage was 42, compared to the Lady Hardrockers 46 percent.
 
Even with a lower shooting percentage, RU was able to grab 11 offensive rebounds leading to 13 second chance points. SD Mines had just two offensive rebounds and zero second chance points.
 
Three Ranger players; Freshman Whitney Jacob, Snipes and Espinosa all managed to record seven rebounds, totaling the total amount of the Lady Hardrockers.
 
Up Next for the Rangers: The women's basketball team will return to Colorado but remain on the road as they take on Fort Lewis College on December 30 at 5:30 p.m.