CCU took to their home court on Friday night as they faced off against Western State. Colorado Christian was able to come away with the victory as they ran away with it winning by a final score of 91-60. They were able to impose their will against the visiting Mountaineers in all facets of the game.
 
Colorado Christian began the first quarter on fire as they jumped out to an early 8-3 lead. They continued to build on that momentum. With two minutes remaining in the quarter, they had already secured themselves a double digit lead with the score 23-12. Ali Meyer did everything in the quarter as she tallied four points, four assists, two rebounds and one block. It was a team effort in the first quarter as seven Cougars scored led by Kate Louthan with five points. At the end of one, the score was 25-16 in favor of CCU.
 
The Cougars defense tightened up in the second quarter and their offense continued to hit their open shots. The three pointer became a potent weapon as Colorado Christian hit on 6-13 (46%) in the first half, compared to just 2-6 (33%) from Western. Defensively, CCU held the Mountaineers to just 13 points in the second quarter and heading into halftime the Cougars had a 20 point lead 49-29. CCU finished the first half shooting 55% (17-31) from the field. The Christian squad was very controlled in the first half as they only had four turnovers at the break, but defensively they forced Western State to turn the ball over ten times which allowed for their offense to extend their lead. Alex Nelson was the leading scorer for the Cougars at halftime with nine points, followed closely by Leisha Crawford and Taylor Torres who each had seven points.
 
The third quarter picked up right where the first half left off as CCU was able to extend their lead and after three the score was 76-50. Western State was able to make some halftime adjustments as they came out and was able to hit on more of their shots, but CCU seemingly had an answer for each score. Colorado Christian made 10-17 (59%) from the field including 2-4 (50%) from downtown in the third. Alex Nelson came alive in the quarter as she scored eight points in the quarter and pushed her game total to 17.
 
Both coaches were able to utilize the fourth quarter to get their younger players some playing time as the outcome was never in doubt. The Western State defense was able to clamp down in the fourth quarter and held CCU to only 15 points. When the final buzzer sounded, CCU came out on top by a final score of 91-60. The Cougars finished the game shooting 52% (33-63) from the floor and a stellar 48% (10-21) from beyond the three point line.
 
Alex Nelson was the game's leading scorer as she finished the night with 21 points on 6-9 shooting. She hit two out of four from downtown and was able to get the foul line frequently where she hit 7-9. Taylor Torres finished the game with 13 points and also dished out four assists. Claire Paxton had 11 points and Kaitlyn Hinch finished with ten points to round out the Cougars scorers who reached double digits. It was one of the best team efforts on the season for CCU as they had ten players score at least four points in the game.
 
Coach Darren Richie spoke about his team after the game, "Tonight was a great all-around team win for us. We shot lights out tonight, especially from deep going 10-21 from three. Western had a game plan to take away our post game, but Ali and Kate did a great job of finding their teammates for easy buckets when Western collapsed on them. Ali (seven assists) and Kate (six assists) lead our team in assists and were both major contributors to our success tonight."
 
With the win, the Cougars record improves to 12-4 on the year and 9-3 in conference play. They will be back in action Saturday night as they will face off against CSU-Pueblo at the CCU Event Center in Lakewood, CO. CCU will be looking to jump ahead of CSU-Pueblo in the RMAC standings which they could accomplish with a victory. Tip is scheduled for 5PM MST. 

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