DENVER, Colo. – The Regis University women's basketball team only needed the first quarter on Saturday night when they took on the South Dakota School of Mines Hardrockers and cruised to a 79-50 win.

The Rangers (6-2 overall, 1-1 RMAC) exploded for 28 points in the first quarter and never let up, owning the lead for all but two minutes of the game against the Hardrockers (0-7 overall, 0-2 RMAC). 

"Last night's loss was obviously really tough on our team as a whole. We really wanted to start RMAC play strong and get that win against Black Hills, but we fell short," said Regis University women's basketball head coach, Molly Marrin. "Coming into this afternoon and seeing the resilience that they had to put the focus back on us and not on external things was really the driving force for us. We wanted to reconnect, reunite, and do the things that we do well and we did that."

How It Happened: The Rangers wasted no time getting ahead as they went on a 14-0 run to open the game, bookended by a three-point shot from junior guard, Athena Saragoza.

The Hardrockers didn't see their first bucket until the 4:39 mark, and at one point, the Rangers' lead was as many as 34 points at the 5:57 mark in the third.

Add a monstrous 28-point first quarter, coupled with 42 rebounds and field goal shooting percentage of 48.3% (29-for-60) for the remaining 30 minutes, and the Rangers had the recipe for a game that saw 11 different players score, including a total of 33 points from the bench.

"I didn't realize it was 33 from the bench which is really cool because that honors Little Mac, that's pretty amazing. She was here tonight," said Marrin. "I think it just shows our depth and seeing Fiona just do what she does in a spot she hasn't played in and getting Rachel in there to hit that three. Athena, just having the confidence, an incredible confidence that gets us going."

Freshman forward Fiona Snashall has yet to miss a shot this season through six games, while fellow first-year Rachel George nailed her first three-point shot as a Ranger. 

Littleton-native Jessica Bollwahn also had her best defensive performance to date on Saturday, grabbing those seven boards in just 17 minutes spent on the court. 

Junior guard Athena Saragoza led the offensive charge for the remainder of the evening, scoring a season-high 21 points, going 5-for-7 (71.4%) from three and a stellar 80% (8-for-10) on the night. 

Saragoza's 71.4% from three comes after a game against Black Hills State University where she only shot 22.2%. But the Santa Barbara-native wasn't the only one with a return to offensive prowess.

As a squad, the Rangers went from 27.0% (17-for-63) from the floor on Friday to 48.3% (29-for-60).

"I think the difference was us focusing on ourselves and what we do well and believing in it and just being confident," Marrin said. "I gave three keys to win for our game, and one was confidence. I actually wrote Athena's name over that confidence goal because I thought she exemplified it perfectly."

Defensively, senior guard Madison Diercks continued her reign as Regis' rebounding queen with nine on the night, followed by Bollwahn's seven. Diercks' nine rebounds grows her total to 76 on the season, 26 more than the next Ranger.

In addition, the Rangers accumulated 10 steals and three blocks on the night.

"We want to continue to grow into that and I think it really showed in the first quarter and in the game overall," said Marrin. "We wanted to cause turnovers and convert some of those which we didn't do as well last night. We did get stops last night, but we didn't convert as many as we did tonight. Making that adjustment tonight was great to see because we knew that was going to be important."

Game Notes:

• The Rangers' bench scored 33 points to the Hardrockers' 12
• Regis' 29 field goals is the second-most on the season
• Madison Diercks' 76 rebounds in just eight games is more than her total rebounds in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons

Up Next: Regis goes on its first road trip of the season to Salt Lake City, UT, to take on the Westminster Griffins. Tipoff is set for Friday at 5PM.

"Westminster just played [Colorado School of] Mines tonight and they played them close. They've got a new coach and a new style and we'll adjust to that," said Marrin.