SPEARFISH, S.D. – After a forced overtime period, the Black Hills State University women's basketball team fell short against No. 9 Colorado State University- Pueblo falling 88-87 on Saturday afternoon.

Black Hills State (4-10, 4-6 RMAC) trailed by one with three minutes remaining in the first quarter. Jaszymn Johnson of CSU-Pueblo hit a layup to lead 17-16. Cheyanne Balster responded eight seconds later with a jumper to give the Green and Gold the go-ahead lead by one and start a 9-0 run forcing the ThunderWolves to use a timeout with under two minutes remaining in the first.

Colorado State- Pueblo (15-0, 9-0 RMAC) ended the BHSU 9-0 run with two free throw shots by Taylor Long. The ThunderWolves had a 6-0 run off free throws to hold the Yellow Jackets at 26-23 at the end of the first quarter.

Two minutes into the second quarter, CSU-Pueblo brought the score within one point again at 26-25 with Johnson making two free throws. Taylor Trohkimoinen responded to bring the Yellow Jackets lead back up to three making two free throws as well.

In the final two minutes of the first half, CSU-Pueblo closed in on the Yellow Jacket lead as Angie Moore banked in two free throw shots to come within one point and trail 35-34. Tuileisu Anderson made a layup to give the ThunderWolves the lead by one but Rachel Erickson received a pass from Keely Bertram for a layup to get the lead back for BHSU.

In the last 30 seconds, Erickson hit four free throw shots to give the Green and Gold a 41-38 lead heading into halftime.

Coming out the half, the ThunderWolves went on the attack and scored a quick layup by Lauren Heyn to trail the Yellow Jackets 41-40. The Green and Gold responded with four points from a jumper by Abby Switzer and Bertram landing two free shots from the line.

With less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Moore responded to a Gabby Doxtator basket to come within two at 53-51. Anderson followed that up with a jumper to tie the game at 53-all. From there, it went round and round with the third quarter ending at 58-all.

In the fourth, Julia Seamans got dumped a pass from Balster to knock one down from beyond the arc to give the Yellow Jackets a three point lead at 61-58. Molly Rohrer of the ThunderWolves answered back with a jumper to come within one point again of the Yellow Jackets.

The fourth quarter went round and round until the final two minutes when the ThunderWolves forced an overtime period. With 2:14 remaining in the fourth, Rohrer hit a jumper to tie the game at 72-all. Bertram hit two free throw shots for the Green and Gold to take the lead at 74-72. In the last 20 seconds, Rohrer hit another jumper to tie it at 74-all forcing the overtime.

The ThunderWolves came out howling with Long knocking down a trey to give CSU-Pueblo a three-point lead at 77-74. That did not hold up long though as Trohkimoinen answered with a shot from beyond the arc to knot it up at 77.

From there, it went round and round until a jumper by Trohkimoinen at 10 seconds left in the overtime tied the game back at 86. A foul on Trohkimoinen's shot sent her to the line giving BHSU a one-point advantage. However, that was not enough for the Yellow Jackets to end the undefeated season for the ThunderWolves as Jaszymn Johnson hit the game winner layup to end it at 88-87.

Arguably, the Yellow Jackets played one of their best games all season as they shot 48.1 percent (26-of-54) from the field, 41.7 percent (10-of-24) from downtown and 78.1 percent (25-of-32) from the line. CSU-Pueblo evenly matched up with the Green and Gold as they shot 48.2 percent (27-of-56) from the field and 77.5 percent (31-of-40) from the line.

Trohkimoinen led the Yellow Jacket offense with 18 points followed by a new season-high for Erickson with 17 points. Kassidy Scott contributed to the offense as well with 11 points while Seamans and Balster each had nine points.

Scott led the defense with seven rebounds while Balster grabbed six.

"We played well in a hard loss," said head coach Mark Nore. "We will use this as motivation to get better moving forward."

Black Hills State travels back to Colorado to take on Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opponents Fort Lewis and Adams State on Friday, January 13 and Saturday, January 14 with tip off scheduled for 5:30 p.m. both days.