GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Black Hills State University women's basketball team fell to the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks Saturday evening, 73-51.

The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead after winning the tip off. Cheyanne Balster took a shot from the corner of the key to knock it down to give the Yellow Jackets the first two points on the board. Balster then grabbed a rebound off a missed shot by the Mavericks to dump it down to Kassidy Scott in the paint who lays it in for the second set of points for the Green and Gold.

The Mavericks answered back with a three pointer from Nicole Archambeau who received the pass Ma'ata Epenisa. After a foul on the Yellow Jackets, it sent Archambeau to the line for two. She made one of the two shots to tie the game up at 4-4. By the end of the first, the Green and Gold led by one point at 10-9.

At the start of the second quarter, Gabby Doxtator started it off making two free throws after a foul by the Mavericks sent her to the line. That gave the Yellow Jackets a 12-9 lead over CMU.

Black Hills State started to expand on that lead as it led by five at 18-13 with 7:55 remaining in the quarter. Doxtator scored another two of those five points for the Yellow Jackets with a layup in the paint. Sydney Small responded with a layup to trail BHSU 14-13.

On the other end of the court, Kassidy Scott laid one in to give the Green and Gold a three-point lead at 16-13. Taylor Trohkimoinen followed suit behind Scott making a layup in the paint as well to give the Yellow Jackets an 18-13 lead and forced the Mavericks to use a timeout.

With 5:31 remaining in the second quarter, Black Hills State owned a 23-16 lead. Scott made a shot from beyond the arc to give BHSU the increased lead. The Mavericks cut in on the lead though with four minutes remaining with Small draining one in from downtown to cut the lead to four points at 25-21.

Jaylyn Duran followed behind Small dropping one in from beyond the arc to trail by one at 25-24. The Green and Gold managed to hold on to the lead until 2:32 left to go at 29-26. Small once again drained a three-pointer at 2:21 to knot the game up at 29-all. From there, it went round and round for the final two minutes with the Mavericks coming out with the two-point lead at halftime, 35-33.

At the start of the third quarter, the Mavericks momentum continued as Erin Reichle put a shot for two to increase the CMU lead 37-33. Rachel Erickson stepped up and made a pass down low to Scott to lay it in and give the Yellow Jackets a two-point deficit at 37-35.

From there, the Mavericks momentum became just too strong as they grabbed a 10-point lead at 47-37 with 3:23 remaining in the third to force BHSU to use a timeout. That momentum for the Mavericks was enough to close out the game at 73-51.

Black Hills State shot 42.9 percent (18-of-42) from the field and 61.9 percent (13-of-21) from the line. Despite the loss, the Yellow Jackets managed to hold Bryanna Adams, leading scorer of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, to just two points on the night.

Balster led the Green and Gold offense scoring 13 points. Balster went 5-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line. Scott worked alongside Balster scoring 12 points for the offense.

Defensively, Trohkimoinen and Balster each grabbed five rebounds apiece.

Black Hills State falls to 9-15 on the season and 9-11 in the conference while Colorado Mesa improves to 18-6 overall and 15-5 in conference action.

Black Hills State travels for its final two road games of the season to Chadron State and Regis on February 24 and 25. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. on Friday and 3:30 p.m. Saturday.