DENVER, Colo. – The Regis University women's basketball team hosted the New Mexico Highlands University Cowgirls on Friday, and led from tipoff to the final buzzer en route to their 73-46 win.
The Rangers (22-5 overall, 17-4 RMAC) allowed only the Cowgirls (6-21 overall, 5-16 RMAC) to score 46 points, the lowest point total Regis has allowed all season.
"I thought we started the game really aggressively and we had a great defensive first and second quarter so I was really proud of our defense," said Regis women's basketball head coach, Molly Marrin. "We were able to capitalize off our defense and just go offensively."
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Rangers' defense made its mark on Friday, opening the game with seven turnovers and 12 rebounds in the first quarter alone.
In addition to those defensive numbers, they only allowed the Cowgirls to score six points off a meager 18.2% (2-for-11) shooting percentage from the field and 16.7% (1-for-6) from the field.
Regis grabbed a total of 45 rebounds–6th highest on the season–with graduate student guard Sam Deem leading the way with nine. Just behind her was Wray-native Morgan L. Smith with eight and senior forward Sydney Speights with seven.
"You look at our post group and they're combining for 24 rebounds between the three of them. I thought our posts did a great job rebounding and put us in a great position to succeed," Marrin said.
And succeed they did. The Rangers did not allow the Cowgirls to score more than 17 points in a single quarter for the rest of the night.
Leading the way offensively for the Rangers was La Vista-native Josey Ryan with 17 points while junior guard Athena Saragoza was right behind her with 16.
"They're just continuing to prove to be consistent for us in scoring the basketball.[Erin] Fry does a great job of finding them as well. I thought they stepped up in the areas we needed when we needed a bucket," said Marrin.
True to Regis' nature was a bench that scored a total of 25 points and grabbed 17 of their 45 boards. Speights had the biggest impact off the bench with her seven rebounds and six points in the game.
"Our bench's performance just tells you everything you need to know about us. It tells you what our team culture's like, our team chemistry, our buy-in, all of it. Anybody whose number is called is ready. Everybody loves to see that and this team loves each other," Marrin said.
GAME NOTES
- Regis took advantage of NMHU's ball handling and totaled 17 points off of 16 turnovers
- The Rangers finished with eight steals to the Cowgirls' five
- Erin Fry led all Rangers in assists with eight
UP NEXT
The Rangers host the Colorado State University Pueblo ThunderWolves on Saturday. Prior to tipoff, the Regis women's basketball team will be honoring its three seniors, Olivia Pitrof, Madison Diercks, and Erin Fry.
"Our girls know what's on the line for tomorrow and they're focused and ready to play. They're excited about the game plan. Our girls are fired up," Marrin said.
