Box Score SAN ANGELO, Texas – The Regis University women's basketball team's historic season came to an end on Friday afternoon after losing in overtime to Black Hills State University, 61-57, in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional tournament.
The No. 3 seeded Rangers finish their season with an incredible 25-6 record overall, just one win shy of tying the school record of 26, and a 19-3 mark in a season that featured a sweep of the RMAC title sweep, both the regular season and tournament championships. The Yellow Jackets improve to 23-7 overall.
"I'm proud of them. Everybody's upset about it, but to have 25 wins? For a team that had 12 last year and 10th in the RMAC to winning the regular season and tournament championship? That's why you watch. The character building for our team, I mean, they played their hearts out. We all did," said Regis women's head basketball coach, Molly Marrin. "We didn't rebound the ball as well as we normally do, we don't get outrebounded, that's a key for us. That stood out. There were just tough looks. Black Hills played a great defensive game especially. We knew it was going to be a battle so credit to them. We just had certain things that didn't fall our way. I couldn't be more proud of them. Nationally, I think people are talking about Regis, they've done that. It's so much bigger than just us."
How It Happened: The Rangers and the Yellow Jackets faced off in their third matchup of the year, and neither team went away quietly to force overtime.
In the first half, the Rangers held the lead for a majority of it, shooting .364 (8-22) while holding BHSU to only nine points in the second quarter.
With the lead going into halftime, the Rangers came out fast in the third with junior guard Madison Diercks making a layup to put Regis up, 28-27.
The Yellow Jackets combined for 27 points over the final two quarters to push the game into overtime, tied 52-52.
The two teams traded blows throughout overtime, with Diercks nailing a three-point shot to put the Rangers up by 1, 56-55. Following a couple of visits by both teams to the charity stripe, the Rangers found themselves down by five.
Two shots from senior forward Sam Deem put the Rangers within three after a crucial foul call put the ball back in Regis' possession. Unfortunately, Black Hills' defense would hold on for the win.
The Regis women's basketball team graduates at least two, graduate student forward Erin Stroberg and graduate student guard Alexius Foster. The remainder of the senior class are still deciding if they're coming back.
Of the remainder of the Regis squad, the Rangers return eight including RMAC Player of the Year, Erin Fry.
Fry finished the year scoring 15.7 points per game and 151 total assists while also scoring the program's first triple-double since 2003.
Also returning is sophomore guard Athena Saragoza who has been a scoring anchor for the Rangers. Also returning is freshman guard Kyla Frenchers who quickly made her presence known on the basketball court.
After a season that did not see the Rangers make the conference tournament, Marrin credits that to her players and the culture they built.
"Character. Culture. Giving. Buy in. Those were our keys this season. If you followed these players around for a day, they're not your average college student athletes, they're professionals. They take care of their bodies, they put the extra time in in the gym. It's been so fun to coach them. When your best players are your hardest workers, that's what you want. It's hard to get. If we're going to go down, I want to go down with this group."
Game Notes:
- Regis scored 19 bench points to BHSU's 16
- Erin Fry finished with 14 points, while Josey Ryan finished with 11
- Madison Diercks had the biggest impact off the bench, scoring 11 and grabbing six rebounds
