Mountain Lions' First Half Too Much for Cowgirls

Box Score COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.- The Cowgirls traveled down from Denver after last night loss to Metro St. The Cowgirls were looking to bounce back, but they ultimately fell to the Mountain Lions 81-75
 
The Cowgirls came out strong as in the first 30 seconds of the game they would have 4 shots, 2 points, and 3 offensive rebounds before the Mountain Lions would even gain possession. With his team playing like that UCCS coach Shawn Nelson would call a timeout. Coming out of the timeout the Cowgirls would get a stop and Michelle Traynham would hit a three to make it a 5-0. The Mountain lions would answer with a three of their own to make it 5-3. Both teams would take outside shots, but couldn't get anything til fall. The Cowgirls' Kristy Marquez would break this streak with a post move to her left and finish with a hook to make it 7-3. The Mountain Lions and Cowgirls would trade baskets and before you knew it the Mountain Lions had tied the game at nine which forced the Cowgirls to call a timeout. After some back and forth play the Cowgirls would trail the Mountain Lions 20-17 at the end of the first.
 
The Mountain Lion would open the second quarter with a jumper, followed up by a Kristy Marquez drive that would send her to the free throw line where she would know down one to make it a 22-19 game. Just as the Cowgirls would get a run going the Mountain Lions would go on a run of their own. With 7:14 on the clock and down 27-21 the Cowgirls would get a lay-up that would cut the lead down. The Mountain Lions would come down the court and miss a three, but would come up with their own rebound and knock down the shot from behind the arc. Pribble would not let that go as the would drain her own basket from deep.  The Mountain Lions would go on a 12-4 run in the last 5:37 to take the 42-31 lead going the half.
 
The second half start a Simioni lay-up to get the Cowgirls going. The Mountain Lions would come down and answer with a two of their own before Simioni knocked down a three to make it a 10 points game, 46-36 with 7:01 on the clock. The Mountain Lions' Defense would hold the Cowgirls at 36 points for almost 3 minutes before a Marquez lay-up would stop the drought. Once again anytime it felt like the Cowgirls would gain momentum the Mountain Lions would stop it quick. At the end of the third the Cowgirls would trail 61-51.
 
The Cowgirls would open the fourth like they had the night before with a triple from Traynham to make it a seven-point ball game. Marquez would hit a nice jumper with 8:39 on the clock to make it a five-point game. Just a few minutes later a Martinez jumper would cut the Mountain Lions' lead to three. Pribble would then hit a mid range jumper to cut it down to one before the Mountain Lions would hit a shot to bring their lead to 65-62 with 5:25 left in the game.
 
The Mountain Lions would go on 5-0 run to force the Cowgirls timeout. Coming out of the timeout the Traynham would hit a three, but once again the Mountain Lions would hit two big threes to give them the 76-67 lead with just 1:45 left in the game. The Mountain Lions would hit another three, but Traynham didn't want to let this game go quietly as she hit another three to make it 79-70 with 30 seconds left. The Cowgirls would score five more points in the game but it was not enough as UCCS hit their free throws. The final score is 81-75
 

	NMHU	UCCS
Leading Scorer	Kristy Marquez 20	Shanah Leaf, Shannon Kelley 15
Leading Rebounder	Kristy Marquez 8	Shannon Kelley 7
Field Goal Percentage	45.9%	48.4%
Three Point Percentage	46.2%	29.6%
Rebounds	31	36
Turnovers	13	12

 
The Cowgirls will return to action next weekend when they host Colroado Mesa and Westminister. Game times for both day are scheduled for 5 p.m.