DENVER, Colo. – With their sights set on the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament championship game, the Regis University women's basketball team had to take care of business against the Adams State University Grizzlies first.

The Rangers (25-5 overall) cruised to the 67-47 win over the Grizzlies (24-8 overall) thanks to a third quarter performance where Regis scored more points within those 10 minutes than they did the entire first half.

"We were composed. We were tough. We played together," said Regis women's basketball head coach, Molly Marrin. "It was the best defensive rotation we've played all year and that allowed us to get great rebounding positions. Finishing those stops was ultimately what allowed us to have the lead that we had."

HOW IT HAPPENED

After a slow start for both squads, the Grizzlies seemed to swing momentum back into their favor starting with a layup at the 9:43 mark in the third. But with each score, the Rangers were right there to match with one of their own.

By the end of the third, Regis had outscored ASU, 24-21, to take a five-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

That five-point lead widened to as many as 25 at the 2:27 mark thanks to a massive 19-9 run triggered by a layup from graduate student forward Morgan L. Smith and capped with a layup from fellow post, fifth-year Sydney Speights.

Smith secured her fourth double-double of the season, finishing with 12 total points and 14 rebounds. Fellow post player Sam Deem joined Smith in double-digit boards with 11.

"Morgan had an o-board to start the game, and that set the tone for us. When she's aggressive at the glass, it's a gift of hers and she's worked really hard at it. I think she just set the rebounding mentality to start the game and I just think everybody else followed suit with that," Marrin said. "Sam did a great job in position defensively, she's got great hands and was just really getting that box out position and getting the ball when she was double teamed and she still secured it. She was doing a great job on the defensive end. I thought Speights did a great job on the defensive end as well getting in position and scoring."

That third quarter also saw a massive offensive shift for the Rangers At the half, Regis was only shooting 29% (9-for-31), but by the end of the third, they were shooting over double that at 62.5% (10-for-16). Leading that charge was senior guard Erin Fry, scoring seven points in the third and finishing with 15 on the night.

"We knew that we weren't shooting well or the ball wasn't going into the hoop, there were a lot of in-and-outs," said Fry. "All of our looks were good so we just kept shooting. We all had the confidence in each other to keep shooting and we knew the next one was going to go in. We didn't look at it as a bad thing."

On the defensive side of the court, the Rangers not only limited the high-octane Grizzlies to 47 points, but prevented the best three-point shooter in the conference—Harmanie Dominguez–from making a single three-point shot. Dominguez is someone who usually shoots 44.8% (97-for-232) on average, but went 0-for-6 at the Field House.

"We talk about KYP, 'know your personnel', so certain games are more that way than others. Some games the team runs more actions or concepts but this was a big KYP game. Dominguez is an amazing player and we know she likes to shoot over ball screens and any looks she can get as soon as she comes across half-court she'll take it," Marrin said. "Our team, I mean, almost all of them guarded her at one point and stuck true to the scout and the matchup and didn't give her space. I thought it was a team effort on that and it was a big KYP effort. A goal of ours was to limit uncontested threes and I thought we guarded the three-point line well."

Graduate student guard Josey Ryan led the Rangers in scoring with 18 total points. Joining her in double figures was Fry (17) and Smith (12).

GAME NOTES

• Regis' 59 rebounds ties the program record set on Nov. 29, 2013
• Saturday's tournament championship game marks the second year in a row Regis has made it to the championship game
• Regis outscored ASU in second chance points, 13-9

UP NEXT

The Rangers will face the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Mountain Lions on Saturday in the RMAC tournament championship game. Tipoff is set for 5 PM.