COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Black Hills State women's basketball was in Colorado Springs on Saturday evening to take on UC-Colorado Springs. Despite a tough fight from the ladies in the fourth quarter, BHSU dropped to 1-1 in RMAC play after falling to UCCS, 63-57.
 
A gritty game from the first frame to the last, both teams combined for 48 turnovers and 46 fouls in the contest.
 
Despite the outcome, the BHSU women played well from inside, with three Yellow Jackets sharing 40 of the 57 total points in the contest and the team outscoring UCCS, 38-32, from inside the paint.
 
Kalla Bertram hit a game-high 19 points in the game, finishing 6-of-11 from the field and 7-of-11 from the charity stripe while dishing a pair of assists. She fell just short of a double-double and potential triple-double with eight rebounds and seven steals (another career game-high), both of which led the team.
 
Ellie Moore continued to be an asset on both sides of the floor as the graduate forward posted 11 points on the night. Moore completed 5-of-8 total shots in the game and made 1-of-2 from the foul line and led the team with five defensive boards, raking in a pair of steals as well.
 
Gracie Haneborg was the third Yellow Jacket in double digits with 10 points on the night, dropping six from the field and making all four shots from the free throw line. The junior guard also nabbed a pair of steals from the Mountain Lions in her 28 minutes on the court.  
 
The Yellow Jackets were screaming hot out of the gate as they opened the game on an 8-0 run, courtesy of a Haneborg layup, a three-point play from Bertram, and a triple from Jaylen Ostenson. Following a UCCS jumper that put the Mountain Lions on the board, five more unanswered points from UCCS turned into a 7-0 run for the Mountain Lions, drawing up a 10-9 scoreboard with 3:36 to go in the period. Though the Mountain Lions laid down a three-pointer, Haneborg freebies and a driving layup from Raven Cournoyer kept BHSU on top, with both teams trading jumpers in the final minute to post a 16-14 BHSU scoreboard through one.
 
A three-point shot and layup from the Mountain Lions gave UCCS their first lead of the game, 19-18, as both teams continued to trade possessions throughout the first half of the second quarter. A trio of freebies from Haneborg and Kaycee Groves tied the game, 21-21, with just over four minutes left in the half, but another 90-second, 6-0 run from UCCS kept the hosts ahead. The Mountain Lions held BHSU to three points at the end of the quarter to take a 33-27 scoreboard to the intermission.
 
The opening five minutes of the second half was all UCCS as the Mountain Lions held an 8-0 run through the first 4:18 of the period, molding a 41-27 lead. Layups from Cournoyer and Haneborg got the Yellow Jackets going, but another three-point shot from UCCS kept BHSU down by 14. BHSU gained stride with two minutes to go in the quarter, however, as the Green N' Gold strung together a 6-0 run to end the quarter down by ten, 48-38.
 
Later trailing 51-38 with 7:32 left in the game, a Cournoyer layup kicked off a dominant 10-0 run that featured four different Yellow Jacket scorers and produced a 51-48 scoreboard. The Yellow Jackets continued to dig as Bertram would put up five more points to later tie the game at 51-all, which stretched the the scoring series to 13-0.  Alessia Capley scored another bucket in the paint, which gave BHSU their first lead since the first quarter, 53-52, with 2:46 to go. Fouls and turnovers kept the game scoreless until a Bertram foul gave UCCS two from the charity stripe to lead by three, 56-53, with 1:22 left to play. Foul trouble from BHSU sent the Mountain Lions to the free throw line four more times in that time frame, allowing UCCS to escape the mighty comeback effort from the Yellow Jackets, who dropped to 1-1 on RMAC opening weekend. 
 
Up Next
The Yellow Jackets return to Spearfish to host MSU Denver on Friday, Dec. 8, with tipoff against the Roadrunners slated for 5 p.m.