Oredigger women fall at Colorado Christian, 68-59

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines women’s basketball team fell to Colorado Christian by a score of 68-59 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) play on Tuesday evening at the CCU Event Center.

The game remained close in the opening minutes with Mines holding onto a one-point lead at the 16:57 mark. Colorado Christian used an 11-0 run to increase its lead to 10 points courtesy of a Kelsie Hert jumper with 12:27 left in the first half. CSM cut its deficit to six points late in the second half but back-to-back three pointers to close out the half gave the Cougars a 12-point lead at the break.

CCU’s lead grew to as many as 18 points with a Jodie Krall three pointer in the second half. The Orediggers answered with a 19-5 run that started with a layup by Katie Clements with 14:07 on the clock and closed the gap to just four points when Angie Charchalis drilled a jumper in the lane with 7:56 remaining in the game.

Krall drained two of her five three-point baskets following the CSM run and Juanise Cornell added two more points on the layup to push the CCU lead back up to 10 points with 6:47 left in the game.

A pair of free throws by Kait Soehner and a layup by Brecca Gaffney cut Mines’ deficit to six points with 4:54 remaining but another Cougar three extended the lead to nine points. The Orediggers came up with a pair of steals resulting in two made free throws by Gaffney and a fast break layup from Kelsey Crist to pull within five points at the 2:32 mark.

Colorado Christian (11-8, 9-3 RMAC) outscored Mines 6-2 in the final two minutes to hold on and earn the win. The Cougars were 6-for-10 from the three-point line in the second half and grabbed 20 offensive rebounds in the game. Krall finished with 17 points and was 5-for-9 from the three-point line. Cornell added 12 points and eight rebounds.

CSM held CCU to just 31.7 % shooting from the field and was 10-for-11 from the free throw line. Emily Dalton led CSM with 16 points and eight rebounds. Charchalis finished with 11 points and six rebounds.

The Orediggers (13-7, 7-5 RMAC) will host UC-Colorado Springs on Saturday, Feb. 6th at Lockridge Arena at 6:00 pm.

                                                          -- OREDIGGERS --