By Luke Siggins
Staff Writer
A lackluster fourth quarter Saturday night left Pack Women’s Basketball with a loss against UC-Colorado Springs. Their 67-59 loss Saturday at Massari Arena dropped CSU-Pueblo Women’s Basketball to 11-10 overall and 9-6 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Both teams were neck-and-neck in every statistical category except in free throws and bench points. CSU-Pueblo only had five makes on eight free-throw attempts, and UCCS had 18 makes on 27 attempts. Off the bench, UCCS scored 21 and CSU-Pueblo had only seven.
Junior Khiya Adams led the Pack with 17 points and made over half of her shots. She also contributed nine boards.
Adams scored eight of the team’s first 14 points in the first quarter. After her early scoring run, UCCS started to double-team her in the post. Adams said she tried to do what she could against of the double teams.
Adams went on to score five more points in the first half, making her presence felt down low. “I just do what I can to help the team win” Adams said.
Freshman guard Janayia Davis added 10 points; shooting 40 percent from the field. She went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line, and dished out seven assists. She also had three steals on the night.
Sydni Williams had nine points and 4-for-10 from the field. She was able to snag a team-leading 10 rebounds, but shot 1-for-3 from the free-throw line.
No team controlled the first three quarters. It was neck and neck the whole way. During the game there were 13 lead changes, and 7 times the score was tied. Both teams led for at least 15 minutes of the game. CSU-Pueblo (15:58) UCCS (19:48).
Coach Curtis Loyd said “Our plan was to play physical defense, make them drive and kick and take what we could get.”
The game was close until the fourth quarter, both teams seemed to be playing physical defense. In the fourth, UCCS attempted 13 free throws, and made 10. CSU-Pueblo had two free throws and missed them both.
With about five minutes left in the fourth, Curtis was called for a technical. After this the game got away from CSU-Pueblo. About the technical, Curtis said, “I’m going to stand up for my players, they were throwing her (Adams) around all game. I had to say something. ”
The shots made were very close with UCCS going 22-of-50 from the field, and CSU-Pueblo shooting 25-of-66. UCCS shot 5-for-12 from three and CSU-Pueblo shot 4-of-12. The difference in the game was free throws.
Their next game is on Feb. 8, at 5:30 p.m. in at Massari Arena against another RMAC opponent, Black Hills State.
