DENVER – The Regis University women's basketball team played strong for the majority of its weekend closer, but ultimately, was at the wrong end of a 75-68 loss to Colorado School of Mines at Regis Field House on Saturday.
 
How It Happened: The Orediggers maintained a 4-point, 67-63 lead with just 50 seconds to go in the game when sophomore guard Denali Pinto hit both of her free-throw attempts to give Colorado School of Mines a 69-63 advantage, which put the game out of reach for the Rangers.
 
Free throws from junior center Courtney Stanton brought CSM to a 7-point lead and the eventual 75-68 final score with 7 seconds to go in regulation.
 
Regis started off as the dominant team, jumping out to a 6-0 lead on treys from junior forward Grace O'Neill and junior guard Emma Sterkel with 8:52 and 7:56 left in the first, respectively.
 
A 6-0 run came moments later and was started by O'Neill's jumper, 8-2, with 7:17 remaining in the first and was concluded by junior forward Whitney Jacob's layup with 3:29 to go in the opening 10 minutes. The latter basket brought RU's lead to 10, 12-2, and marked one of two instances in which the Rangers led by this many.
 
Sterkel's free throws at the 3:08 mark of the first returned the lead to 10, 14-4.
 
The Orediggers then bridged a 10-0 run from the first quarter to the second and took the lead, 17-16, on senior guard Heidi Hammond's jumper in the paint with 8:09 to go in the second. This signified the first of six lead changes in that quarter.
 
The last lead change of the second occurred when Sterkel drained a 3-pointer with 48 seconds left before halftime and gave Regis a 32-30 lead.
 
RU went on another 6-0 run during the third quarter, beginning with O'Neill's jumper, 38-35, with 6:24 remaining in the third and ending with a Jacob trey, 42-35, at the third quarter's 3:30 mark. 
 
Junior guard Tashika Burrell's free throw with the clock reading 4:39 in the third increased the Rangers' lead to eight, 45-37, which was the first of two times it would be that high in the second half.
 
The Regis lead grew back to eight on Burrell's free throw to open the fourth at the 9:38 mark and gave RU a 53-45 advantage.
 
Colorado School of Mines then chiseled away at the Rangers' lead over the next several minutes with a 15-7 run. Free throws from Pinto tied the game, 60-60, with only 3:27 left in the fourth.
 
A Stanton layup with 2:52 remaining in the fourth broke a 60-60 tie, putting CSM ahead by a score of 62-60, which the Orediggers kept for the remainder of the contest.
 
Ultimately, Colorado School of Mines hit 11 of 12 (91.7 percent) free-throw attempts in the fourth.
 
Game Notes: Sterkel led all scorers with a career-high 24 points and also had two rebounds and four assists. O'Neill collected 15 points, nine rebounds, one assist and a steal. Burrell had a game-high six assists with her nine points, seven rebounds and one steal. Senior forward Jaz'Myne Snipes was credited with a team-high three steals and had four points, four rebounds, one assist and a share of the game-high one block. Jacob scored 11 points and contributed three rebounds and an assist.
 
Regis hit 24 of 61 (39.3 percent) shots from the paint, 10 of 34 (29.4 percent) from the arc, and 10 of 11 (90.9 percent) from the free-throw line. However, CSM outshot RU from the paint with a 26-for-61 (42.6 percent) performance, but percentage-wise, only had a 4-for-15 (26.7 percent) showing and a 19-for-24 (79.2 percent) result from 3-point range and the charity stripe, respectively.
 
Up Next for the Rangers: The Rangers drop to a 3-7 record overall and a 1-3 record in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) play. Regis closes its homestand and the 2019 calendar year on Friday at 5 p.m. when it hosts Colorado Christian (2-8, 2-2 RMAC) at Regis Field House.