SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University women's basketball team (14-7, 11-6 RMAC) dropped a hard fought 69-62 decision to the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (17-7, 14-4 RMAC) Friday night inside the Donald E. Young Center. Kalla Bertram led the team with her 15 points, while Kaycee Groves notched a new career-high with eight rebounds in the effort.
 
The Mountain Lions got on the board first and would jump out to an early 10-3 lead in the first five minutes of play. BHSU would go on a 5-0 run to cut that deficit to two points, 10-8. By the end of the opening frame, UCCS held a narrow 12-11 advantage.
 
Bertram (Jr., Colome, S.D.) gave BH the lead a minute into the second quarter and a Raven Cournoyer (Gr., Mission, S.D.) 3-pointer later would give them their largest lead of the contest at 16-14. The three-ball would become a force yet again for the Yellow Jackets in the frame. UCCS would put together a run midway through the period, using a 7-0 spurt to take the lead back and would lead 27-25. Limited scoring the rest of the way as UCCS would take a 33-31 lead into the locker room.
 
At the halftime break, Bertram led all scorers with 13 points on her 5-for-8 shooting (3-for-6 from deep). Gracie Haneborg (Jr., North Platte, Neb.) would pull down four first half rebounds. The Mountain Lions would hold the half's largest lead of seven points in the first 20 minutes of play, but it was the Yellow Jackets with a demanding 24-13 advantage on the boards.
 
Bertram didn't wait long, scoring the second half's first points to tie the game up on the first possession in the opening seconds of the half. The low scoring game trend would continue early in the second half, as the game would remain tied until the eight-minute mark when UCCS converted on a lay-up, but the next possession a top of the key 3-pointer from Cournoyer off an offensive rebound would give BHSU the 36-35 advantage. Later, a 3-point play that turned into a 5-0 run would give them a 42-38 lead heading into the quarter's media break. Out of the break, the Yellow Jackets went with a high-low look and Morgan Hammerbeck (Sr., Hamill, S.D.) converted on the 3-point play to cut the deficit to one. Neither side would lead by more than four points in the third, as each had an answer for small runs the other took. Five-straight points from Groves (R-Fr., Faith, S.D.) – and her first points of the game – would give BH their first lead since early in the first quarter at 48-47. In the final second, Haylee Weathersby (Jr., Glendale, Ariz.) would be fouled off an offensive rebound putback as the game would head to the final frame knotted up at 51-51.
 
Tied again at 53-53 four minutes into the fourth quarter, it would be the Mountain Lions next converting on a deep ball to take the 56-53 lead. With four minutes to play, Groves hit her second deep ball of the evening to knot things up once again, but it would be UCCS with the 58-56 lead at the final media time out of the contest. The Mountain Lions would build their lead back up to four points at the free throw line with just over two minutes to play. Ellie Moore (Gr., Phoenix, Ariz.) would cut the UCCS lead back down to four with a minute and a half to play, but it would be the Mountain Lions who would go on to prevail, 69-62.
 
GAME NOTES

• Kaycee Groves sets a new career-high with eight rebounds. 
• Kalla Bertram had a team-high 15 points on 6-for-15 shooting, knocking down three 3-pointers.
• Morgan Hammerbeck added eight points, shooting 6-for-7 from the free throw line.
• Kaycee Groves brought down a game-high eight rebounds, while Gracie Haneborg notched six.
• The Yellow Jackets hit their first five free throws of the night, ending the game shooting 13-for-17 (76.5%) from the line.
• BHSU dominated on the boards, holding a +16 advantage (44-28).
• The 19 offensive rebounds marked the second-highest total of the season (20 vs. Adams State).
• The game saw eight ties and 10 lead changes in the back-and-forth affair.
• After the loss, Black Hills State sits in sixth-place in the RMAC (11-6 RMAC) with five games remaining.
• BH falls to 11-13 all-time against the Mountain Lions, dropping both games of the regular season to UCCS.

Up Next: Black Hills State will host the Regis Rangers (19-5, 14-4 RMAC) tomorrow, February 17 to conclude the weekend. Tip-off from A2 Arena is slated for 4:00 p.m.