WICHITA, Kan. – The Newman women's basketball team held a lead at halftime but couldn't hang on in the second half against a tough Colorado-Colorado Springs team in the first of two games in the Heartland/RMAC Challenge this weekend, falling 74-64 Friday evening at Fugate Gymnasium.
KEY SEQUENCE
The Jets (0-1) held a 37-29 lead coming out after halftime to start the third quarter but the Mountain Lions (1-0) would claw back into the game to take a 46-45 lead with two minutes remaining in the third and hold onto that lead until the final buzzer.
HOW IT HAPPENED
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Mali Wright scored the first-two points of the season for the Jets with a layup at the 7:55 mark in the first quarter. Newman would get its first lead of the game with two minutes remaining in the first quarter when
Jazzmen Ortiz nailed a three pointer to put the Jets up 12-11.
-Newman would be up 14-11 heading into the second quarter of play. The Jets would extend their lead out to seven points with a
Sheanna James jumper that made the score 18-11.
-UCCS would battle back and retake the lead from Newman in the beginning stages of the second quarter, however another timely Ortiz three would tie things up at 27-27 with four minutes remaining in the second.
-The Jets would go on a ten-point run to close out the first half of play and take a 37-29 lead into the locker room. During that run
Bria DeGrate and
Hannah Alexander contributed two points each, while
Kendra Butler and Ortiz added three points a piece.
-The Newman offense would come out a bit stagnant from halftime, only scoring eight points throughout the third quarter of play. The Mountain Lions would take a 50-45 lead into the final quarter of play.
-The Jets entered the final quarter trailing by five points and only managed to get back within five points at the five-minute mark when Wright made a layup to make the score 58-53.
-The Mountain Lions would hit timely shots to keep Newman out of arms reach throughout the remainder of the fourth quarter, winning 74-64.
LEADERS
Newman
Points: DeGrate, 15. Assists: DeGrate, 3. Rebounds: Wright, 5. Steals: Ortiz, 3.
UCCS
Points: Jen Vigil, 21. Assists: Vigil, 8. Rebounds: Brittany Hernandez, 11. Steals: Vigil, 5.
NOTES
-The Jet defense pressured UCCS throughout the entire game, forcing 22 turnovers, while committing 11 turnovers themselves.
-While having a team high 15 points DeGrate was also the team leader in assists with three and tallied three rebounds and two steals to cap off a quality first game.
-Ortiz finished the night with 12 points and was the team leader in steals, while adding three rebounds and two assists to the stat columns.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Jets finish the Heartland/RMAC Challenge with a game against Regis tomorrow at 3 p.m.
