DENVER, Colo. – In a showdown between cross-town rivals, the Regis University women's basketball team stunned the Colorado Christian University Cougars in front of the largest crowd at the Regis Field House so far.
The Rangers (15-3 overall, 10-2 RMAC) survived a 48-point second half surge from the Cougars (10-8 overall, 6-6 RMAC) that saw them take a 70-69 lead with 0:01 left on the clock.
A textbook inbound pass from senior guard Erin Fry found graduate student forward Morgan L. Smith at the low post as Smith tossed up a perfect layup to win the game.
"Well I mean, that's why you play the game, to be in tough situations like that. With two seconds to go and to be able to pull off the win and see the excitement from our group is amazing. Include beating our cross-town rival and the win makes it that much more special," said Regis women's basketball head coach, Molly Marrin.
How It Happened: It all came down to the performance at the free throw line as two missed free throws set the Rangers up for their storybook ending.
Leading up to the pivotal moment, CCU came out swinging as their first score of the game was a three-point shot from Regan Loconte. Across the board, the Cougars had a total of three different players finish in double-digit points.
"They played a great game. I think they certainly were able to score with their wing-action balls and I think Laconte hit some threes early and just shot the ball really well," said Marrin. "I mean, they have multiple weapons which we knew they had and I thought they attacked us really well offensively. We had to make adjustments defensively to guard them better and I thought we did that towards the end."
While the Rangers were up by seven going into the fourth quarter, the Cougars quickly eliminated that advantage with a 7-0 run that tied the game at 58-58 at the 6:53 mark.
Both teams traded offensive blows with the score culminating in a 69-69 tie with 23 seconds left on the clock.
As the Cougars charged down the court for what was their second-to-last possession of the game, Dasiya Jones attempted a three-point shot but an untimely foul beyond the arc gave the Cougars three trips to the charity stripe.
Jones made the first shot, but missed her next two, putting CCU up by only a point, 70-69, to set up the dramatic finish.
After a Regis timeout that advanced the ball tableside, Fry made her pass to Smith who quite literally put the game away.
"I had to figure out how to draw up a play whether it was for a two or a three so of course I'm thinking it's going to be for a three and she made the first and missed the second. I think we had already gone over that play a timeout before so at least our girls were ready for it," said Marrin.
For her third game in a row, junior guard Athena Saragoza went off and scored 23 points on the night. The Santa Barbara-native went a stellar 50% (5-for-10) from beyond the arc and 9-for-17 (52.9%) on the night.
"She's just so shot ready and plays with so much energy that she just knows when she can hit her shots and she knows which spot to get to to create space if teams over play her," Marrin said. She can drive it and you saw that in her coast-to-coast transitions so she did a little bit of everything. Athena's just a multi-talented player that is super fun to coach."
In addition to Saragoza's performance, Fry had a monumental career moment of her own. With her layup at the 7:45 mark in the second quarter, she became the 21st player in Regis women's basketball history to cross the 1,000 point threshold.
Game Notes:
Up Next: The Rangers return to the Regis Field House on Saturday to take on the Chadron State College Eagles. Tip-off is set for 3 PM.
"We've got to be ready. They're very scrappy in the paint and they played UCCS close tonight and obviously they're coming out here and they want to beat us," said Marrin.
