Box Score PUEBLO - Coming off its first loss of the season, seventh-ranked Metro State responded with a 55-49 win at Colorado State-Pueblo on Friday evening. The Roadrunners improved to 13-1 overall and 9-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while CSUP fell to 11-3 and 8-2.

The Roadrunners looked like the defensive juggernaut they were last season, holding the ThunderWolves to just 32.7 percent shooting and owning a 55-35 rebounding margin.

Caley Dow (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe H.S.) carried the team on offense in the low-scoring game with 13 points and 13 rebounds, hitting 5-of-10 from the floor. Emily Wood (Louisville, Colo./Monarch H.S.), back in the starting lineup for the first time since suffering a head injury on Dec. 3, scored nine points and had six rebounds, while matching Dow and two others with a team-high two assists.

Brandi Valencia (Moriarty, N.M./Moriarty H.S.) scored eight points and Jenessa Burke (Aurora, Colo./Highlands Ranch H.S.) added eight off the bench. Jasmine Cervantes (Johnstown, Colo./Berthoud H.S.) was limited to just two points, but had nine rebounds.

Metro played its best defensive half of the season, holding the ThunderWolves to just 22.2 percent shooting for a 25-17 lead at halftime. The CSUP shooting percentage and point total were both season-lows for Roadrunners opponents, and they also enjoyed a 28-17 rebounding margin at the break.

Metro trailed 11-10 with 9:59 left in the half, but came back with a 12-1 run for a 22-12 lead, scoring 10 of those points in the paint and the other two on a pair of free throws by Burke.

Dow led all players with eight points at halftime in just eight minutes, battling two early fouls.

The Roadrunners opened the second half on an 11-1 run, taking a 36-18 lead with 14:03 left as CSUP went without a field goal until a 3-pointer by Kendall Babler with 13:44 left in the game.

However, the ThunderWolves hung around and kept the lead around 10 points for much of the second, when a brief 8-2 run cut the lead to three with just 39 seconds left as Erica Hicks made an acrobatic layup, while drawing a foul. She missed the free throw and the Roadrunners went on to connect on 7-of-8 at the line in the final minute to hold off the late CSUP surge.

Laurel Kearsley led CSU-Pueblo with 17 points (16 in the second half) and eight rebounds and Hicks added 10.

Metro State shot just 32.8 percent from the floor, its second-lowest of the season.

The Roadrunners will travel to UC-Colorado Springs for a 5:30 p.m. game on Saturday.