Colorado Christian was in Pueblo on Saturday night, and had a tall task as they faced off against the third ranked team CSU-Pueblo. The Cougars gave them everything they could handle, but the ThunderWolves pulled away late and defeated CCU by a final score of 80-72.
 
Coming into the game, CSUP looked to be the far superior team on paper, but Blue and Gold was prepared to give them a battle on the court. With just under four minutes left in the first quarter, CCU trailed 8-9, but then CSU-Pueblo went on a 7-0 scoring run, and by the end of the quarter they were leading 19-13. However, the Cougs answered in a big way in the second quarter, as they quickly erased the six point deficit, and with 6:29 left in the half, Leisha Crawford drained a three pointer to give the Cougars a 24-23 advantage. Both teams played the remainder of the first half closely, but CCU held onto an advantage heading into the break as they led 32-30.
 
At the half, Mikala Gordon was the team's leading scorer as she finished with 13 points. Gordon was nearly perfect from the floor in the half as she hit 6-7 of her shots including 1-1 from beyond the arc. Haley Shaner was also a factor in the half as she hit 3-6 from three which gave her nine points at halftime. CCU held an advantage in FG% (44%, 11-25), 3FG%(42%, 5-12), and FT%(100%, 5-5). The Lady Cougs played stingy defense in the first half as they held the normally potent CSU-Pueblo offense in check by shooting 32% (11-34) from the floor, and 31% (4-13) from three.
 
Colorado Christian continued their stellar play as the second half began. They maintained a slim lead the majority of the third quarter, and with just over a minute left in the quarter, CSUP managed to tie things up 45-45. The ThunderWolves finished the third with a flurry of made three pointers, which netted them an 8-2 scoring run to finish the quarter, and a six point lead heading into the fourth with a score of 47-53.
 
CCU began to heat up offensively in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately, CSU-Pueblo was able to match them shot for shot heading down the stretch. The Cougs scored 25 points in the final 10 minutes of action, and CSUP scored 27 to give them the 80-72 victory over Christian.
 
Claire Paxton was on fire in the second half, as she tallied 19 of her team leading 21 points in the second. Paxton finished the game shooting 7-15 from the floor, 3-4 from three and also connected on all four shots from the charity stripe. Alex Nelson also had a great second half, scoring 13 of her 18 total points. Nelson also finished the game with her sixth double-double of the year as she grabbed 10 rebounds in the game. Mikala Gordon finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Leisha Crawford and Haley Shaner both had nine points in the game.
 
With the loss, the Cougars record now sits at 11-14 overall, and 9-11 in conference play. They will return home for their final two games of the year beginning with a bout against Metro State University on Feb.24^th. Tip is scheduled for 5PM MST.