Junior Jordan Gutierrez had a game earlier this season in which she drilled seven three-pointers at Colorado State University-Pueblo. She did one better Friday night hitting eight, but it wouldn’t be enough as the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs took the 80-65 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory.
Gutierrez’s eight three-pointers came on 14 attempts and she ties for sixth all-time in the RMAC record books. It’s the 14th time that a player has made eight in a game with the last time coming in 2011 with Taylor Helbig of Colorado Mines accomplishing the feat. Gutierrez ended up with 28 points to lead the Lady Mustangs, just one point off her career-high which was set at CSU-Pueblo earlier this year.
While Gutierrez had a big night, Brittany Hernandez was not to be denied as she led all-scorers pouring in 29 points and also had a double-double with 10 rebounds to lead the Mountain Lions.
Gutierrez started her hot shooting night right away, following a UCCS (14-6, 10-4 RMAC) basket nearly a minute in to open the scoring, Gutierrez answered with her first three-pointer of the night at the 8:13 mark for the 3-2 lead.
The Mountain Lions responded as Shanah Leaf connected on a layup on the next trip down the floor to put UCCS ahead for good the rest of the way. It ended up being the start of an 11-0 run to take a 13-3 advantage.
Although WNMU (7-12, 5-9 RMAC) never came back to take the lead, they had an answer just a few minutes later. Trailing by 10, sophomore Jade Botelho helped start a 7-0 run. Gutierrez added a three-pointer and senior My’Kale French capped the stretch with a layup leaving WNMU down just three, 15-12.
UCCS controlled the remainder of the first quarter outscoring the Lady Mustangs 13-5 to open a 28-17 lead heading into the second quarter. WNMU would get no closer than 12 the entire second quarter, with the last coming with 4:11 to play on a three-point-play by Botelho.
The Mountain Lions added just two more points to their lead the rest of the half to take a 50-36 lead into the locker rooms. WNMU controlled a majority of the stats in the second including points in the paint (10-6), points off turnovers (8-4), second-chance (3-2) and fastbreak (2-0).
Junior Deandra Williams trimmed the deficit down to 11 near the midway point of the third quarter connecting on a jumper in the paint.
WNMU got no closer than 14 in the final quarter and the teams ended up tying in the fourth with each scoring 13 points to provide the final score. Outside of Gutierrez’s strong game, Botelho added nine points and six rebounds. She tied for the team lead in rebounds with Gutierrez.
In addition to Hernandez having a big game for the Mountain Lions, Jen Vigil tallied 15 points and Jennah Knafelc chipped in 10.
WNMU made 34 percent (22-65) from the field and went 9-25 (36) from three-point land. They added a solid 12-16 (75) clip at the foul line. UCCS made 30-66 (46) and went 11-28 (39) from three. They were a perfect 9-9 at the charity stripe. WNMU held the edge on second-chance points (13-7) and fastbreak (2-0).
WNMU will play at MSU Denver tomorrow night beginning at 5 p.m. The Roadrunners escaped New Mexico Highlands earlier tonight posting the 65-59 victory.