GUNNISON, Colo. Western Colorado completed the weekend sweep on Saturday (Dec. 10), defeating Colorado Christian 52-38. Additionally, the Mountaineers also improved to 2-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings.
 
JUST THE FACTS
Final Score: Western Colorado def., Colorado Christian 52-39.
Records: Western Colorado 3-6, 2-2 RMAC, Colorado Christian 6-4, 2-2 RMAC.
Location: Paul Wright Gym; Gunnison, Colo.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The game started out neck-and-neck for both teams, resulting in the score being 11-10 in favor of the Western after the first quarter ended. The Mountaineers had the biggest lead in the quarter, after a layup by Alyza Aikins and Kylie Krise drained a three-pointer giving Western a 11-7 lead with 55 seconds left. The Cougars got their final points of the quarter off a three-pointer with five seconds left.
• Things started to click offensively for the Mountaineers in the second quarter – taking a 18-12 lead on a 7-2 run, that was led by a Rachel Cockman layup, Krise three-pointer and Hayley Valencia layup. Unfortunately, after that scoring run Western's offense cooled off only scoring two-points for the remainder of the quarter, allowing Colorado Christian to get back into the game. At halftime, the Mountaineers were up 20-18.
• Western came out locked and ready to go in the third quarter - outscoring the Cougars 13-5 over the course of seven-minutes and 49-seconds, which resulted in the Mountaineers having a 10-point lead. Western was able to hold onto that lead in large part, thanks to Emmery Wagstaff who got the offense rolling for Western scoring the first five-points of the quarter – giving the Mountaineers a 25-18 lead. Wagstaff went on to score eight of the 15 total points in the quarter. Mia Lozoya also pitched in with a three-pointer and Brooklyn Seymour scored the other four-points on two layups.
• For Colorado Christian, they had their worse quarter of the game in the third quarter, leading to them being down 25-35 heading into the fourth quarter.
• The Cougars tried to comeback in the fourth quarter going on a 4-1 run to start, trimming Western's lead to seven-points. But, the Mountaineers were locked in and weren't going to let Colorado Christian get close to tying the game.
• After a Seymour layup increased the lead to nine-points for Western on a layup, Western never let the lead dip below 10-points - with the lead growing as large as 17-points. 17-points is also the amount of points the Mountaineers scored in the quarter, which was their best quarter of the game.
• Seymour scored the majority of her points in the quarter, scoring eight-points.

COURT NOTES

• Wagstaff led the Mountaineers in points, dropping 17-points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field. Right behind her was Seymour who scored 14-points of her own. Additionally, seven out of the eight players that played recorded a point in the game – six-points coming from the bench.
• On the glass, Valencia led the team in rebounds grabbing 10 boards.
• As a whole, Western shot 44.2 percent (19-of-43) from the field, 31.3 percent (5-of16) from three and 60 percent (9-of-15) from the free throw line. The Mountaineers also scored 28-points in the paint and had 14-points off turnovers.
• For the Cougars, Makenna Bodette took over the scoring load scoring 15-points. Agnes Paul led Colorado Christian in rebounds with seven.

UP NEXT
The Mountaineers will hit the road for their next game on Sunday (Dec. 18), taking on Colorado School of Mines at 5 PM.