The Friday, Feb. 1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference showdown between the Colorado State University- Pueblo women’s basketball team (14-4) and New Mexico Highlands (4-14) ended up being a one-sided domination.
CSU-Pueblo defeated NMHU, 61-36, at CSU-Pueblo, in the Massari Arena.
Early game nerves seemed to be the case for both teams, but CSU-Pueblo managed to gain steam and pulled out an easy win. By the time the second half began, the Thunderwolves were already ahead 29-15.
Laurel Kearsley, post, scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Kearsley, this weeks RMAC Defensive Player of the Week was the player of the game.
While no one was able to stop her on offense, her defensive presence was felt early on and continued throughout the game. She finished the game with four blocks.
“We have been pretty dominant so far this season,” Kearsley said. “We have struggled with turnovers, but everything else has been dominant.”
Kearsley made it clear that this win came from a team effort.
Kearsley’s teammate Erica Hicks, wing, helped out with scoring as she managed 10 points and Caiti Forrester, forward, picked up eight rebounds to help out the defense. The turnovers and missed shots were the struggles for the Thunderwolves Friday night, but the team plans on working on those areas or Saturday’s game.
The CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves came into this game ranked No. 2 in the RMAC, only trailing Colorado Mesa, who has a perfect record with 13 wins in the conference and 18 wins overall.
Tonight played a crucial part in their standings, as a loss would have meant the team could drop to No. 4 in the standings.
The NHMU women’s basketball team suffered a poor shooting night, finishing with a field goal percentage of only 23.3 percent. New Mexico took the same amount of shots as CSU-Pueblo, but only made 1 of 16 attempted 3-pointers for the game.
It was a night of accomplishments for the Thunderwolves women’s basketball team as it continues to make history.
With a win today, coach Kip Drown pulled ahead for the lead in career wins among the existing RMAC coaches, with 419 wins. Coming into this game, Drown was tied with the Adams State coach, Kelly Kruger, at 418 wins.
In addition, with a win tomorrow, the Thunderwolves would record its eighth straight 15-win season, the longest of such a streak in school history, under Drown
The game on Saturday, Feb. 2, against Western New Mexico will bring even less pressure, as the Thunderwolves have already beaten this team earlier this season. Western New Mexico only has three wins on the season.
The game will start at 5:30 p.m. in the Massari Arena, at CSU-Pueblo.