LAS VEGAS, N.M. – The Regis University women's basketball team gained a boost of confidence to start off the 2020 half of its season schedule with a 71-59 win over New Mexico Highlands at John A. Wilson Complex on Friday.
 
How It Happened: The Rangers held onto a 57-47 lead with 8:25 left in the fourth quarter when senior forward Jaz'Myne Snipes drilled a trey to give the Rangers a 60-47 advantage and all the points Regis needed to get RU off to the right start in the new calendar year. This also started her own 6-0 run, which also included a layup and free throw. The free throw grew the Rangers' lead back to 16, 63-47, with 7:14 left in the game.
 
Junior guard Jordyn Lewis of the Cowgirls later bookended a 7-0 run that trimmed the Regis lead to 10, 69-59, with a free throw and a 3-pointer. The trey occurred with 1:13 remaining in regulation.
 
But a layup by freshman guard Sydney Daniels was the game's final basket, which took place with 37 seconds to go before the buzzer. 
 
Junior forward Whitney Jacob put the Rangers on the board to begin the game, 2-0, with a layup following an offensive rebound with 8:00 left in the first quarter.
 
Regis later went on an 8-0 run that started with Snipes' layup at the 5:15 mark of the first to tie the game, 4-4, and ended with another Snipes layup with 3:54 to go in the opening frame to lead, 10-4.
 
Snipes commenced a 6-0 run to close out the first quarter with a layup at the 1:23 mark. Daniels' trey with 9 seconds left was the last of the quarter to make the score, 21-10.
 
Back-to-back layups by Jacob with 9:17 and 8:58 remaining in the second, respectively, extended the run to 10-0 and brought the Rangers to a 25-10 lead on the latter basket.
 
Regis proceeded to tack on a 13-0 run that began with junior guard Tashika Burrell's 3-pointer with 8:27 to go before the half, giving RU a 28-13 lead. This run was last extended on junior forward Grace O'Neill's successful trip to the free-throw line, 38-13, which came with 4:35 remaining in the second. 
 
The Cowgirls attempted to inch their way back into the game and ended the first half on a 12-7 run. In that run, Lewis contributed eight of those points, including a trey to close the New Mexico Highlands' first-half scoring effort with 21 seconds left before the intermission to trim the deficit to 43-25.
 
Snipes concluded the first half with a layup with just 8 seconds remaining, bringing the game to a 45-25 score after 20 minutes of play.
 
The Rangers took the momentum from the first half and turned in a 10-0 run spanning the second and third quarters. Junior guard Emma Sterkel's layup at the 9:23 reading on the clock in the third was the first basket of the second half and grew the Regis lead to 47-25. Jacob's jumper with 7:57 left in the third ended the run with RU leading, 53-25.
 
NMHU converted a 6-0 run to trim the Rangers' lead. A free throw by freshman Maiah Rivas started the run with 6:04 to go in the third, and the run ended on a Lewis trey. The trey by Lewis made the Cowgirls' deficit a 22-point, 55-33 score at the 3:36 mark of the third. 
 
New Mexico Highlands ended the third quarter on a 5-0 run, launching with a Rivas jumper at the 2:56 mark and stopping with a layup from freshman Faith Flores with 57 seconds to go in the second-to-last quarter of the game. Flores' basket made the score, 57-38, and was the last of the third.
 
NMHU extended its 5-0 run at the end of the third into a 14-0 run. The run finally ended on freshman Ashley Antone's 3-pointer with 8:25 left in the contest and had the Cowgirls trailing by only 10, 57-47.
 
Game Notes: Snipes set a career-high 26 points to lead all players. She also had a game-high 13 rebounds, one assist, one block, a share of the team-high two steals, and committed no turnovers. Jacob also had a double-double performance with her 15 points and 10 rebounds to go along with a share of the game-high two blocks, and a share of the team-high two steals. Sterkel had 11 points, one rebound, three assists, and a block. Burrell and Daniels had a share of the game-high four assists, which was a career-high for Daniels. Burrell also contributed three points, two rebounds, and a steal, while Daniels recorded seven points, three rebounds, one block, and one steal. 
 
Regis finished with a 28-for-64 (43.8 percent) performance from the paint. RU made 7 of 26 (26.9 percent) from the arc and was perfect at the free-throw line, hitting 8 of 8 (100 percent).
 
In contrast, the Cowgirls sank 21 of 56 (37.5 percent) in the paint, 8 of 19 (42.1 percent) from 3-point range, and 9 of 14 (64.3 percent) from the charity stripe. 
 
Up Next for the Rangers: RU climbs to a 4-8 record overall and a 2-4 record in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. The Rangers conclude their road trip at CSU-Pueblo (3-8, 2-4 RMAC) at Massari Arena on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The game will be highlighted by YMCA Night.