CCU Women's Basketball played in their final 2015-2016 game on Saturday, March 19^th. They competed in the NCCAA National Tournament, and made it to the championship game vs Roberts Wesleyan University, who defeated Colo. Christian 70-58.
 
Roberts Wesleyan was a fierce competitor for the Cougs having a winning season record of 28-7. The Redhawks are a NCAA DII team that competes in the East Coast Conference, hailing from Rochester, NY.  RWU was the #2 seed going into the NCCAA Tournament.
 
In the end it was #1 Colorado Christian Cougars vs the #2 Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks. Both teams would be favored to win, not one more than the other. From a statistical view the squads were even on the year. RWU scored 69.9 points per game, while CCU was at 70.9. The Cougs had a higher FG % of .433 to the Redhawks .396, but Roberts outscored from downtown throughout the season shooting .320% to CCU's .304%. The Redhawks also outshot the Cougs from the free throw line with an overall season percent of .703 to blue and gold's .682.
 
The Cougars had such a great run in their post-season winning three games in overtime to make it to the Championship. Unfortunately, their final match would not be close like the previous ones.
 
The first half was exciting basketball as CCU and RWU struggled for possession of the ball. There were five ties before CCU took the lead halfway through the second quarter 20-18. The Cougars largest lead of the game was by five points in the second quarter (1:24). Colorado Christian went into halftime being up three points 27-24.
 
It was a quick four-minute scoring series for the Redhawks that had blue and gold in a bind. Jumping out strong after half, RWU went on a 15-1 unbelievable scoring streak. The Cougs were stagnant, scoring their first bucket since coming out of the locker room, six minutes into the third quarter. Roberts was unstoppable the rest of the game. Their largest lead was by 16 in the fourth quarter, and the Cougs were unable to regain any sort of momentum losing by 12, 70-58.
 
CCU shot .377% (26-69) from the field while RWU shot .350%. The Redhawks outshot the Cougs from beyond the arc .238%, and Christian .063% (1-16). From the line, Roberts shot .639% (23-36) and CCU .556% (5-9). CCU's struggle from three, turnovers (21), and fouls (28) hurt their game immensely vs RWU.
 
Leaders in the championship game were Claire Paxton who scored 17 points and had two blocks. Kate Louthan and Ali Meyer had double doubles. Louthan scored 12 points with 12 rebounds. Meyer had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Kaitlyn Hinch had 10 points, and point guard Taylor Torres had nine assists.
 
"We had a great year winning 23 games and today we faced a team that was three dimensional," said head coach Darren Richie. "They had great post play, shot the three well, and drove to the basket efficiently. Our poor shooting outside hurt us in this game." 
 
Kate Louthan earned NCCAA First Team All-American, and First Team All-Tournament. Kate Louthan and Taylor Torres have had an incredible career at Colorado Christian. Louthan ended her basketball career having played in 122 games, scoring 1351 points. Torres has played in 115 games, scoring 1339 points. Both CCUs seniors will be graduating this Spring 2016 with amazing accomplishments on and off the court. CCU Athletics is honored to have had them for the last four years.