DENVER, Colo. – It was all about the fourth quarter comeback in the Regis University women's basketball team's 72-66 win on Saturday as they took on Fort Lewis College.
The Rangers (12-3 overall, 7-2 RMAC) flipped the switch in the fourth quarter and came out on top after the first three quarters where the Skyhawks (8-7 overall, 5-4 RMAC) led for a majority of the night.
"First I want to credit Fort Lewis' defense, I mean, they really sped us up and turned us over early," said Reigs women's basketball head coach, Molly Marrin. "Their defense was excellent with that so credit to them there. But I love how we started to figure it out as the game went on. We stayed composed even when things weren't going our way and we toughed it out at the end."
How It Happened: 23 total second chance points, a career night from Wray-native Morgan L. Smith, and a 10-2 run to open the fourth was the perfect recipe for Regis to mount its comeback in the fourth.
For the first four minutes and 20 seconds of the fourth, the Rangers' defense forced two Skyhawk turnovers as well as two missed three-point shots, with Lanae Billy scoring Fort Lewis' two points thanks to a visit to the charity stripe.
"I think we just had more energy defensively. We just had to decide that we were going to up our energy, effort, and our talk. They came out with more hunger than I think we started the game with and I think it was something where they decided they'd have to get more defensive stops to get the win," Marrin said.
Smith punctuated the 10-2 run with a layup that put Regis' lead up to seven, but the Skyhawks quickly went to work and whittled that lead down to as few as three points with only one minute remaining.
Regis stayed the course, however, and made four more visits to the free throw line to put the game away, 72-66.
"We knew they could make runs, they can score a ton. They're talented. Billy is an outstanding player so we knew they were going to take quick shots and they hit some," said Marrin. "I think we expected that but it was just a matter of meeting our passes and making sure we could get back to the free throw line and score points with time on the clock."
Throughout the evening, the Rangers never trailed by more than eight. With the Skyhawks shooting 41.5% (22-for-53) from the field and Regis shooting 42.1% (24-for-57), the difference maker between the two offenses came down to the number of second chance points.
Regis had a total of 23 at the final buzzer to Fort Lewis' 10, thanks to the Rangers' 15 offensive rebounds on the night.
"23 second chance points was obviously a huge difference maker in the game. We try to get a point per offensive rebound, so 15 would've been our goal with 15 o-boards so 23 is excellent. That was huge," said Marrin. "Morgan led that effort with seven rebounds and she was amazing and had one of the best games of her career and fueled us and just did everything in the fourth."
Smith finished the night with a career-high 17 points and 10 rebounds, her fifth double-double of her career. Joining Smith in the double-double club is graduate student guard Sam Deem, who finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
"Those two just play well together and they're smart," said Marrin. "They make plays when we need them and they're doing what I'm asking them to do on the offensive rebounding side."
Game Notes:
- Regis' bench outscored Fort Lewis', 7-2
- Sam Deem led all Rangers in rebounds with 11
- With their 40 rebounds on the night, Regis is currently the #1 rebounding team in the RMAC
Up Next: The Rangers travel to Golden, Colo. to take on the Colorado School of Mines. Tipoff is set for 5:30 PM.
