The Cougar Women's Basketball team hosted their first RMAC game of the season on Friday, December 8th, when they took on the Hardrockers of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. The Hardrockers came into the game with an overall record of 5-2 and 1-1 in the RMAC. The Cougars were still in search of their first conference victory, sporting a record of 2-5 overall and 0-2 in RMAC play.

The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with the Cougars building a 12-11 lead to begin the second period, but the Cougars would hit a cold streak, shooting just 2-12 in the second period and allowing SDSM to outscore CCU 15-5 and take a 26-15 lead into the locker rooms at halftime.

The second half saw the Cougars open up with a 9-3 run to get back within five points on some key steals and big 3-pointers.  Despite the promising start to the third period, the Cougars wouldn't be able keep up the pace and would still trail by nine going into the fourth quarter.

CCU would not go quietly, and made a charge in the fourth quarter, eventually getting within three points of tying the game. Unfortunately for the Cougars shots were hard to come by in the final moments and the Hardrockers would eventually win their second conference game by a score of 51-43.

With scoring leader Alex Nelson out with an injury, it was freshman Sarah McGinley who picked up the scoring slack. McGinley scored a season and career high 22 points on 53% shooting. She didn't just come to score though, as she grabbed six rebounds and added an assist and a block. Last games leading scorer, Jordan Baer, added an all around game with eight points, six rebounds, four assists, and three big steals.

The Cougars return to the CCU Event Center still in search of their first RMAC victory tomorrow, December 9th, when they host Black Hills State University at 5:00 p.m.