Box Score The NMHU Women's Basketball team fell to the Thunderwolves of CSU-Pueblo at home, by the final score of 91-73. The Cowgirls were without their starting point guard,
Whitley Coca, due to injury. The Cowgirls were the first to put points on the board, but the Thunderwolves quickly reversed that situation and took control of the game. Cowgirl
Katie Gannon came off the bench to hit a three pointer with 15:17 remaining in the half to cut the Thunderwolves' lead to one point, but CSU-Pueblo took to the offensive and enlarged their lead. CSU-Pueblo would lead by as much as 17 points in the first half and when the buzzer sounded for halftime, the Thunderwolves took a 14 point lead into the locker room. CSU-Pueblo was the first to score in the second half of play and looked to be in good shape, but
Katie Gannon kept hitting three-point shots while heavily guarded and helped cut the Thunderwolves' lead down to eight points with 17 minutes remaining. CSU-Pueblo tried to regain their big lead, but with 10:23 Gannon hit another big three pointer to cut the lead down to six points. The John A. Wilson Complex was rocking with chants of “defense,” unfortunately the Cowgirls would get no closer to the RMAC third ranked Thunderwolves. When the final buzzer sounded, it was CSU-Pueblo who would triumph with an 18 point victory on the road. With the loss the Cowgirls, led by Head Coach Tiffany Darling, fall to a 5-9 record in the RMAC and 9-9 in overall play.
With the absence of the Cowgirls' starting point guard, two young players would come up big for the Cowgirls in the game, proving the depth of this young team that Head Coach Tiffany Darling has put together.
Katie Gannon led the Cowgirls in scoring on the night. She was on fire from behind the three-point arc, shooting 6-9 from long range and racking up 20 points in 25 minutes on the court. Gannon tied for the lead in rebounding in the game for the Cowgirls with seven boards.
Eboni Jacobs did a great job filling in at the point guard position for the Cowgirls with 17 points. She was 5-10 from the field and made 7-8 shots from the free throw line. Jacobs would also add five assists, five rebounds, and two steals in her team leading 36 minutes of playing time.
China Smith had a slow start to the game, but she caught fire late in the contest to add nine points to the Cowgirls' efforts. She shared the rebounding lead for the Cowgirls, with Gannon, grabbing seven boards on the night. Smith went 4-8 from the field and 1-2 from the charity stripe in her 23 minutes on the court.
The Cowgirls were out-rebounded by the Thunderwolves 39-28 and CSU-Pueblo had four players end up in double digits in scoring. Point guard Kendall Babler had an outstanding game for the Thunderwolves, leading all scorers with 31 points, playing a full 40 minutes for CSU-Pueblo.
The Cowgirls will continue conference action again, on 1/28, as they host the Mountain Lions of the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. The Mountain Lions are currently in sixth place in the RMAC with a 6-8 conference record and 10-9 in overall play. The Cowgirls were victorious the last time the two teams met, grabbing their first victory of the RMAC season in Colorado Springs, in a 67-65 barn burner that went down to the final seconds. The game is scheduled for a 6 pm tip-off time, with the Cowboys taking to the court shortly after the completion of the women's game. If you can't make it to the John A. Wilson Complex to watch your Cowgirls in action, you can click
HERE to watch the game LIVE on the America One network.
GO COWGIRLS!!!
