Opening up their regular season, Colorado Christian traveled down the road to play in the Tony Corbetta Classic hosted by Colorado School of Mines. The Cougars first game was against the Hilltoppers of St. Edwards University on Friday, November 9th at 5pm. After a nail biting game that took it into overtime, the Cougars lost with a final score of 85-83.

HOW IT HAPPENED: After being charged with two fouls in the first thirty seconds of play, the Cougars started out on the wrong side of the whistle. However they did not let that slow them on the defensive end and they continued to put the pressure on. At the end of the first quarter, the Hilltoppers had an 8 point lead with a score of 24-16.

Coming into the second quarter Sarah Holt took charge and scored 8 straight points for the Cougars after a layup and two threes. The Hilltopper offense continued to fight but a technical foul put Colorado Christian on the line for a couple free throws to slow down the game. St. Edwards continued to stay strong in their offensive efforts to make the score going into the locker rooms 48-37, an 11 point lead. Jordan Baer led the Cougars at the half with 13 points.

Coming into the second half Colorado Christian had a couple turnovers that the Hilltoppers took advantage of, forcing a timeout when the Cougars were down by 16, 59-42. Coming out of the timeout Olivia Christy hit a quick three to gain some momentum for the team. But St. Edwards continued to land their pull up jumpers to maintain the lead.

At the end of the third quarter, the Cougars stepped it up in all areas and went on a run to shorten the difference to 4, 64-60 after a Marie Tsoungui hit a three right at the buzzer.

Starting out the fourth quarter strong, Lindsey Hearn hit a jumper from Sarah McGinley to make it a two point ball game. Not long after, Olivia Christy hit a three from Lindsey Hearn to make it just a one point ball game, 66-65. Tying up the game at 67's was a layup from Brooke Zimmerman. With 6 minutes left the Cougars were tied up 69-69, thanks to a 20-6 run.

With a one point lead and one minute left in the 4th quarter, St. Edwards called a timeout. The Hilltoppers were able to maintain possession of the ball after a couple offensive rebounds to go up by 2 with 12 seconds left. However after a Hilltopper foul, the Cougars had the ball at the baseline and scored off a layup from Jordan Baer on the in-bounds play to tie up the game and take it into overtime.

The score coming into overtime was 78-78, and the Cougars won the tip-off to start the extra minutes.  Olivia Christy drove and got the Cougars first three points to put Colorado Christian up by 1. However St. Edwards responded with a jumper to take their own 1 point lead. Both defenses stayed strong and prevented the offense to score, but after a Cougar foul the Hilltoppers landed one more free throw to put them up by 2 and win the game.  

GAME LEADERS: Leading the Cougars was Jordan Baer starting the season with a double-double, with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Also in the double digits was Olivia Christy with 17, and Marie Tsoungui with 13. Leading the team in rebounds was Brooke Zimmerman with 12.

WHAT'S NEXT: The tough loss starts the Cougars season with a record of 0-1. The team will travel to Colorado School of Mines again tomorrow to play the Lions of University of Arkansas Fort Smith, on Saturday, November 10th at 5pm.