by PUEBLO, Colo. – In its second-straight appearance in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout, the Black Hills State University women’s basketball team was unable to gather enough momentum to overtake 22 points from Ashley Piper in a 62-57 loss to Colorado State-Pueblo Tuesday night.
The Yellow Jackets conclude their season 15-12 overall, including a 13-9 mark in the RMAC. Colorado State-Pueblo improves to 16-10 as they move onto the semifinals of the RMAC Shootout.
Chelsey Biegler (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe) led the Yellow Jackets with 12 points while Dakota Barrie and Bailey Kusser each scored 11 points.
Unable to get anything going in the early portion of the game and down 13-3, Kusser came off the bench and provided a quick spark for the Yellow Jackets. She scored eight-straight points. She hit a jumper followed by back-to-back 3-point baskets.
The Yellow Jackets cut the deficit to one point at 14-13 on a Logan Cowan jump shot. However the Thunderwolves answered right back with an 8-0 run of their own to re-open a 21-13 lead.
Black Hills State again cut into the lead, when Cassidy Kotelman found Cowan for a layup as the Yellow Jackets found themselves down 23-20 with 2:24 remaining in the first half. After Katie Nehf made three free throws for CSU-Pueblo, Kotelman hit a jumper from the baseline to send the Yellow Jackets into the intermission down four at 26-22.
The Yellow Jackets came out firing in the second half and took their first lead of the game at 27-26 when Dakota Barrie sank a trey from the top of the key. The two squads then began trading baskets. The Yellow Jackets held their largest lead, two points, at 43-41 with 11:22 remaining as Barrie found Kusser for the 3-point basket, her third of the game.
The Thunderwolves answered back immediately as Angie Moore hit a jumper to begin an 8-0 run and a 49-43 lead. Colorado State-Pueblo eventually pushed its lead to eight points at 55-47 until a Biegler 3-pointer in transition put a cog in the Thunderwolves run.
Down 57-50, Biegler drove the lane and hit an old-fashioned three-point play. On the ensuing Thunderwolves offensive possession, the Yellow Jackets forced a turnover when Kotelman picked up the loose ball. The Yellow Jackets had a great look but were unable to find the bottom of the net on a quick 3-point attempt and were forced to foul with 46 seconds remaining in the game.
Piper made both free throws to boost the lead back to six points for the Thunderwolves. Taylor Trohkimoinen then scored on a layup to cut the lead back to four points. However, with Black Hills State forced to continue fouling, the two squads continued to trade baskets not allowing the Green and Gold to get over the final hump and regain the lead.
Piper had a game-high 22 points for the Thunderwolves while Moore added 10 points. The statistics for both teams were very similar as the Green and Gold shot 42.3 percent (22-52) from the field while CSU-Pueblo was 45.5 percent (20-44) from the field. Both squads had 12 assists while and the Green and Gold had a slight edge in turnovers, forcing 18 and committing 15.
The biggest difference came at the charity stripe where the Thunderwolves were 17-of-25 while the Yellow Jackets were just 7-of-9.
The loss ends the career of five seniors for the Yellow Jackets: Chelsey Biegler, Courtney Patterson, Cassidy Kotelman, Dakota Barrie and Logan Cowan. The five led the Yellow Jackets into the NCAA era, a pair of RMAC postseason berths and numerous school records.
