GUNNISON, Colo. Ahead by 16 points with five minutes to play Saturday afternoon, Western Colorado withstood a furious rally by visiting Black Hills State to escape with a 75-74 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference women's basketball victory at Paul Wright Gym.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Western def. Black Hills State, 75-74
Records: Western 9-7 overall (7-3 RMAC), Black Hills State 10-7 (7-3)
Location: Paul Wright Gym, Gunnison, Colo.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Mountaineers trailed for a total of 2 minutes, 16 seconds during the second quarter, and by the midpoint of the third quarter had built a 17 point cushion over the Yellow Jackets.
• Entering the final frame with a 52-41 lead, Western eventually pushed out to a 62-46 advantage on a layup by Chloe Daniels with 5:12 to play.
• Trailing mightily on the scoreboard, the Yellow Jackets began swarming with full-court defensive pressure.
• Over those final five minutes BHSU forced 5 Mountaineer turnovers with that pressure and whittled the gap to nearly nothing, coming back to within a basket at 73-71 with 10 seconds on the clock.
• After a back-to-back timeout sequence by Black Hills then Western, the Mountaineers were able to inbounds the ball in their offensive end. Ivey Schmidt took the inbounds pass, raced to the basket and was fouled.
• Schmidt sank both free throws for a 75-71 lead with 8 seconds left. BHSU's Emily Cooper dropped in a long-range 3-pointer to pull the Yellow Jackets to within a point with 1.5 seconds remaining but that time would finally run off the clock, securing the win for the Mountaineers.
• Western led the entire first quarter and despite a mid-second quarter surge from the Yellow Jackets, were able to head into the halftime locker room with a 10 point, 37-27 advantage.
• Penelope Urquhart's 3-pointer started the scoring for Western in the third quarter, within which the Mountaineers pushed to their biggest lead of the game, 46-29, on another Urquhart triple.
• BHSU battled back in the early minutes of the fourth but withstood that rally to push out to that 16-point lead with just half the quarter remaining.

COURT NOTES

• Schmidt would tie with BHSU's Bradie Schlabs for high point honors, both finishing the thriller with 18 points.
• Jayda Maves would do her damage for Western from behind the arc, hitting 4 of 5 treys on a 14-point afternoon.
• BHSU earned a lot of its points, 38, from in close in the paint, where Audrey Norville would earn many of her 15 points for the Yellow Jackets.
• Western finished the game shooting 56 percent including 50% from behind the arc, while BHSU shot 43% from the floor and just 32% from long-range.
• The Yellow Jackets' big rally included a 33-point fourth quarter, a total more than and two quarters combined prior to the final frame.

UP NEXT
Western continues a homestand with RMAC games next week against UC Colorado Springs and Colorado Christian University.