GUNNISON, Colo. --- No matter the injuries, the 21st-ranked Western Colorado women's basketball team keeps finding a way to win.

Playing without a third starter from the beginning of the season Friday night, the Mountaineers rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat CSU Pueblo 62-57 at Paul Wright Gym.

Western Colorado (12-2 overall, 11-2 RMAC) trailed for nearly the entire second half - but never by more than six points in the fourth quarter - before rallying in the final four minutes. Down 57-53, Mikaela Parker scored in the paint to cut the lead to two with 3:09 remaining.

The score remained that way until Samantha Coleman in transition took a pass from Hannah Cooper and drained a 3-pointer to make it 58-57 Mountaineers with 2:03 remaining in the game. Western wouldn't trail again as CSU Pueblo (3-12, 3-12) didn't score a point over the final 3:58 in the game as the Mountaineers ended the contest on a 9-0 run.

Cooper paced the Mountaineers with 19 points, six assists and four steals, Parker had 13 points and four rebounds while Coleman had 13 points (going 4-for-9 from 3-point range), five rebounds and three steals.

Coleman reached a milestone as she became the ninth player in Western history to reach the 1,000-point mark as sh now has 1,011 career points.

Defense led Western - particularly over the final three quarters as after allowing the ThunderWolves to go 11-for-18 (61.1 percent) from the field in the first quarter, the Mountaineers held CSU Pueblo 13-for-43 (30.2 percent) the rest of the game.

JaNaiya Davis led CSU Pueblo with 23 points, eight rebounds, seven assists two blocks and two steals.

The Mountaineers return to action 5 p.m. Saturday against Adams State. Following the game, they will honor seniors Jessie Erickson, Jadyn Kanzler and Mikaela Parker along with senior manager Madi Archuleta (it will be broadcast on GoMountaineers.com/live).