Box Score PUEBLO, Colo. - Metro State's women's basketball team used a dominant performance on the boards to earn a 54-43 and hand Colorado State-Pueblo its first conference loss of the season on Saturday night in Pueblo. MSU improved to 4-4 overall and 2-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while the ThunderWolves fell to 6-2 and 3-1. It was the second night in a row the Roadrunners knocked off an undefeated conference opponent after a win at UC-Colorado Springs on Friday.
Metro State outrebounded CSUP 48-33, its best rebounding margin of the season. The Roadrunners led all of Division II in rebounding margin last season, but had struggled on the boards early this season with a -1.0 rebounding margin per game entering Saturday.
Kristin Valencia (Moriarty, N.M./Moriarty H.S.) recorded her 10th career double-double with 14 points and 16 rebounds. She came up just short of her career high of 17 rebounds. Valencia buried 5-of-10 from the floor and added five assists and two steals.
Tai Jensen (Troy, Idaho/Troy H.S.) had a career-high 13 points and also made 5-of-10 from the floor.
Cassie Lambrecht (Colorado Springs/Golden H.S.) scored nine points,
Emily Wood (Louisville, Colo./Monarch H.S.) had seven and
Jenessa Burke (Aurora, Colo./Highlands Ranch H.S.) added six.
Metro State held CSU-Pueblo to one field goal in the final 6:30 and used a 6-0 run late in the half to lead 18-15 at halftime. Both teams played excellent defense with the Roadrunners shooting 24.2 percent and CSUP shooting 26.1 percent in the first half. But MSU outrebounded the ThunderWolves 26-17 and forced eight turnovers to earn the slim margin on the scoreboard.
CSUP cut Metro's lead to 26-24 with 12:52 left in the game, but that was as close as the ThunderWolves would get. MSU built a 46-35 lead with 3:56 remaining, its largest lead of the game. The Roadrunners converted 6-of-8 at the line in the final minute and held CSUP to one field goal in the final two minutes to close out the victory.
MSU shot 52.4 percent in the second half to even out to 35.2 percent for the game. They held CSUP to a 32.1 field goal percentage in the game.
Laurel Kearsley led the ThunderWolves with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Metro State will return home on Saturday to host Black Hills State at 5 p.m.
