SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University women's basketball team fell 55-42 on Saturday night to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.

After trailing 25-11 at the half, the Yellow Jackets looked to find their momentum in the third with Cheyanne Balster making a quick basket to cut the Mountain Lions lead at 25-13. About 30 seconds later, Rachel Erickson drew a foul that sent her to the line to score two more for the Green and Gold to trail by 10 at 25-15.

The Mountain Lions answered with back-to-back shots by Brittany Hernandez and Tori Fisher to increase the lead 29-15. With just over three minutes left to go in the third, the Yellow Jackets went on a 5-0 run to close in on the UCCS lead. Haley Schneider started the run with a shot from the line.

After missing the second free throw by Schneider, Julia Seamans grabbed the offensive rebound to keep the ball with the Yellow Jackets. After a missed three-pointer by Taylor Trohkimionen, Kassidy Scott grabbed the rebound to put it back in for two more to trail by 10.

UCCS ran it back down the floor and missed a jumper by Anna Schwecke. Trohkimoinen grabbed the rebound to pass it up the court to Scott. Scott threw the ball under the basket to Balster who laid it into the net to trail by eight at 35-27.

In the final second, Trohkimionen hit a buzzer beater layup to close out the third quarter 37-31 to trail the Mountain Lions by six.

In the fourth quarter, Jennah Knafelc of the Mountain Lions made a jumper to increase the lead again by eight at 39-31. From there, that set the pace as Knafelc hit a shot from the line to give UCCS a 40-31 lead.

With 6:44 remaining in the game, the Yellow Jackets cut the lead to six once more with a free throw from Sierra Toms. That was not enough to push the Green and Gold to a victory as UCCS closed it out 55-42.

Balster led the Yellow Jacket scorers with 12 points followed by Trohkimoinen with eight. Rachel Erickson tallied three assists.

On defense, Trohkimoinen tied her season-high and grabbed a team high nine rebounds.

The Green and Gold fall to 8-14 overall and 8-10 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference while UCCS improves to 16-7 on the season and 13-4 in RMAC action.

Black Hills State closes out its home schedule on Saturday, February 11 hosting South Dakota Mines with tipoff scheduled for 4 p.m.