CHADRON, Neb. – The Regis university women's basketball team (14-10, 13-6 RMAC) defeated Chadron State College (5-21, 3-17 RMAC) 85-76 Tuesday night behind 28-points from senior Chante Church.
How It Happened: Regis opened the game with a slow start, shooting 0-for-3 offensively and falling behind 5-1. The Rangers trailed by as many as seven (13-8) with 3:46 remaining in the first quarter. Three different RU players made a bucket in a one-minute span and closed the gap to 15-14.
Regis was outscored 19-16 in the second quarter but went into the halftime-break a momentum changing three-pointer by junior
Morgan Ducklow. The Rangers used the energy to open the third quarter on a 14-0 run shooting 6-for-7. A Church jumper assisted by
Whitney Jacob gave RU their first lead of the game, 36-34, just 1:06 into the second half.
Back-to-back free throws by Jacob capped the run and extended the Regis led to 10, 44-24. Church scored five-straight points to give the Rangers their largest lead of the game and stretch the score-line to 56-41.
RU opened the final quarter with a 58-47 advantage, but the tide tuned in Chadron's favor. Regis held a 10-point lead (69-59) with 5:35 left until the last buzzer. Chardon went on an 8-0 run behind free-throws over the next three minutes to pull within two (69-67). After two baskets from the Rangers, the Eagles scored five unanswered points in the last 38 seconds to send the game to overtime tied at 73.
Senior
Mary Sigler made the only RU basket of overtime with a dagger from downtown.
Despite making only one basket, the went 9-for-13 from the foul-line and held Chadron to just three points in overtime to win 85-76.
Game Notes: Regis had two players contribute 20-plus points in their overtime victory. Church led the game with 28-points (8-18 FG, 2-7 3-PT) on 44 percent shooting. 10 of her points came from the free-throw line. Sigler added 20-points on 57 percent shooting (8-14 FG, 2-6 3-PT). Jacob followed closely behind with 17-points, shooting 6-10 from the field and 5-5 from the line.
Freshman
Emma Sterkel had a career-high six assists to guide the Rangers to 16 total. Junior
Shelby Espinosa recorded her fifth-straight game with 10-plus rebounds by grabbing a career-high 18 boards. Jacob snagged 10 rebounds with six of them coming on the offensive side.
Up Next for the Rangers: The women's basketball team will return to the Fieldhouse on Saturday, February 17 for a 5 p.m. tip-off against Westminster College (13-10, 12-7 RMAC).
