by Thomas Thortvedt

This weekend, March 10 and March 11, the Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Women’s Basketball hosted two NCAA D-II Women’s Basketball Tournament games this weekend in Massari arena.

On Friday March 10, the Pack who came into the tournament with a No.1 seeding were able to beat the No.8 seed Tarleton State 68-59 in the South Regional Quarter Finals. After the win the Pack eliminated the Texans from the big dance and improved their record to 28-3.

The Thunderwolves also collected a season high 54 rebounds in the victory. Sophomore, Molly Roher, posted a double-double for the second time this season tallying 14 points and 10 rebounds as the pack won the points in the paint battle 40-16.

The Pack never trailed the Texans during the contest as they started off the game on 10-3 run and never looked back.

The Texans appeared to make a comeback after the third period ended but the Thunderwolves opened the final period going on a 6-0 run and put the Pack up by double digits to close the Texans out 68-59.

After the win Friday night, the Pack had the privilege of hosting West Texas A&M University the next day, March 11 at 7:30 p.m.

The Pack fell short to the Aggies after making a late push to force overtime. Senior, Jazmyn Johnson, came up big during the second half as she scored 17 of her 22 points.

Johnson posted he

r best game of the season but it wasn’t enough as the Pack as a team only shot 27 percent from the field. “I was definitely feeling it tonight,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to help my team crawl back,

but give it up to West Texas, they’re a great team.” she said.

Johnson drained a career-high five 3-pointers off the bench, going 5-for-9 from beyond the arc and also collected seven rebounds and two steals.

The Lady Buffs also beat the Pack in the points in the paint battle, 36-14, resulting in easier buckets for the Buffs and wore the Pack down throughout the contest.

In overtime, West Texas took the lead early, scoring the first five points to begin the extra period. The Pack continued to crawl back matching point for point with the Lady Buffs but with the score 70-67 with only 13 seconds left, the Pack had two chances to tie to force a second overtime but couldn’t get a bucket to go.

After being eliminated, the Pack still celebrate their best season in school history and Coach Jim Turgeon couldn’t be more proud of his team. “I love these girls,” Turgeon said. “Every game they played hard and played together, that’s all a coach can really ask for.” he said.

The Pack has something to look forward to heading into the 2017-18 campaign, as all five starters on this year’s team are underclassmen and are likely to return to make a push once again for a National Championship.