SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University women's basketball team fell in a heartbreaking contest Saturday night against Western State Colorado, 59-56.

After trailing 33-24 at the half, the Yellow Jackets chipped away at the Mountaineers lead. Western State's Mackenzie Tucker came out quick going coast-to-coast to increase the lead 35-24. However, the Yellow Jackets followed that up with a 4-0 run with Rachel Erickson and Julia Seamans each making one from the line followed by a layup from Erickson to bring the Green and Gold within seven at 35-28.

With 5:58 remaining in the third quarter, Black Hills State continued closing in on the Mountaineers as Erickson shot four more shots from the line to bring the score within three at 36-33. Kaylynn Bush answered with a jumper from the top of the key to increase the Mountaineers lead, 38-33.

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Yellow Jackets trailed 44-38 until Sierra Toms hit back-to-back jumpers and a free throw to keep closing in on the Mountaineers lead and bring the score to 44-43.

With less than eight minutes remaining, Taylor Trohkimoinen sparked the momentum for the Yellow Jackets nailing a shot from downtown. Erickson followed that up with a free throw shot to tie the game at 47. From there, it went round and round until Toms hit a shot from beyond the arc to give the Yellow Jackets their second lead of the game since the first quarter at 52-51.

In the final two minutes of the game, the Mountaineers took the lead back at 56-54 with Harlie Williams knocking one down from beyond the arc. The Green and Gold do not let that stop them from putting up a fight as Cheyanne Balster dumps one in to tie the game back up 56.

It went down to the final seconds as the Yellow Jackets looked to close the game out on one final shot to comeback from an 11 points deficit but a missed three-pointer by Haley Schneider determined the fate of Black Hills State. Sadie Stroup received a pass from Kaylynn Bush out of bounds to knock down the final three-pointer to give Western State the 59-56 victory.

Erickson tied her career-high 18 points in 35 minutes of action. She knocked down a new career-high 10 free throws out of 14 attempts and went 4-of-12 from the field. Alongside Erickson, Toms scored 13 points on the Yellow Jacket offense.

Defensively, Balster grabbed a season-high eight rebounds with five of them defensive.

The Yellow Jackets fall to 8-12 overall and 8-8 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference while Western State improves to 5-14 on the season and 4-11 in RMAC action.

Black Hills State returns to action February 3 and 4 hosting MSU Denver and regionally ranked No. 9 University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Tip off on Friday, February 3 is set for 5:30 p.m. followed by 4 p.m. Saturday.