PUEBLO, Colo. – The Westminster women's basketball scored just 18 points in the second and third quarters as they fell at No. 9/11 Colorado State – Pueblo, 68-54, in Rocky Mountain Athleic Conference action on Saturday night.
Westminster (4-4, 2-2 RMAC) never led on Saturday and were within 19-15 after the opening 10 minutes. CSU-Pueblo (10-0, 4-0) outscored the Griffins 38-18 over the next two quarters and would lead by as many as 28 in the second half.
"We needed to be more aggressive to the basket tonight," Westminster head coach
Shelley Jarrard said after the game. "Instead, we settled for the outside shot."
It was a tough night offensively for the Griffins as they made just 30.2 percent of their field goal attempts. They forced the ThunderWolves into 19 turnovers with 15 steals and 15 points from those turns. CSUP shot 40.6 percent and went 11 of 27 from beyond the arc.
Sydnee Taylor shouldered much of the offensive load for the Griffins with 23 points. Her second 20-point outing of the year came on 9 of 17 shooting and a trip of threes. She also led the team with seven rebounds.
The home team opened the second quarter with a 14-5 run that opened a 33-20 lead with 2:23 to play. Tuileisu Anderson scored nine points in the run that opened a double-digit lead the ThunderWolves never gave back. Westminster was just 2 of 14 shooting during the 7:37 minute stretch.
Westminster mounted a 17-2 run in the fourth quarter – including 13 straight points – as they trimmed the deficit to 67-54.
Denise Gonzalez hit a pair of threes during the run while
Sicilee Williams also scored six points in the span.
Gonzalez finished the game with seven points on a tough 2 of 12 shooting night. Williams added those six points with
Riley Reidhead scoring five.
Anderson led CSUP with 30 points and she made 7 of 9 from deep. This is the first time a Griffin opponent has scored 30-plus points in a game since 2011.
"Pueblo is such a good team with a tough post and guard combination," Jarrard said of tonight's opponent. "We did a great job holding (Molly) Rohrer scoreless, but Anderson was just phenomenal."
The Griffins have three road games remaining in the 2016 calendar year. They return to action on December 16 at Adams State.
