Box Score COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In a back-and-forth roller coaster ride down the stretch, the Western New Mexico University women's basketball team fought back to take a 12-point lead with seven minutes to play, just to watch the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs fight back to force overtime and come away with a 79-75 win over the Lady Mustangs in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action Saturday evening.


RaTanya Newsome (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) scored a pair of baskets in consecutive trips down the court on her way to a season-high 28 points with the second hoop giving WNMU (4-7, 1-5 RMAC) their largest lead of the night of 12, 54-42, with 7:36 to play in the game.


UCCS (4-6, 3-3 RMAC) answered with a 13-0 run to jump in front 55-54 with 3:36 to play. The teams would then alternate leads or tie throughout the final minutes. Newsome put WNMU back in front on a layup on the next trip down the floor and the Mountain Lions answered getting a pair of offensive rebounds and hitting a jumper to go back in front by one with just under three to play.


Kim Clark (Santee, CA/West Hills High School) got loose for a big triple for the Lady Mustangs cashing in on a second-chance rebound by Ashley Witherspoon (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills High School) to push in front by two. A technical foul on WNMU allowed Abby Kirchoff a pair of free throws that she hit to tie the game at 59 and then sheconverted a layup on the ensuing possession to give UCCS a 61-59 lead as she led all-scorers with 35 points.


WNMU calmly worked the ball inside and Stephanie Moore (Anton, TX/Anton High School) was fouled. She collected both from the charity stripe to knot the game at 61 with 1:44 left to play. The Lady Mustangs would play solid defense and after forcing a tough shot, secured the rebound and Nalani Hernandez (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) gave WNMU a 63-61 lead on a layup with a minute to play.


Kirchoff answered with two from the foul line to tie the game again at 63 with just 37 seconds to play. Newsome called her own number as she drove down the lane and hit a running jumper to give WNMU a 65-63 lead with just 15 seconds to play.


It looked like WNMU was going to take the win, as UCCS would miss a three, miss a jumper and then on the second offensive rebound, Sam Patterson was fouled with less than a second to play. With UCCS in the double-bonus, that meant a pair of free throws to try and send the game to overtime. She would hit the first and after a WNMU timeout, the second shot would rattle around before falling to tie the game at 65 and send it into overtime.


WNMU took the first lead in OT 40 seconds in on a layup from Moore. UCCS would come back to eventually take a four-point lead with 2:11 to play and again ahead by four at 74-70 with 1:20 to play when Veronica Celaya (Chandler, AZ/Williams Field High School) swished a deep three trimming the deficit to one with 57 seconds to play.


The Mountain Lions would split a pair of free throws by Kirchoff leaving WNMU down by just two with 11 seconds to play. The Lady Mustangs would have two chances at it to tie with Newsome just missing on a layup and Moore's follow-up shot wouldn't go either and eventually UCCS grabbed the rebound and were fouled with a second to play. Patterson hit both sealing the win for UCCS.


In the first half, UCCS held an early 8-1 lead and that would end up being their largest lead of the game. The Lady Mustangs would come back to take the lead on a three-point-play by Hernandez for a 12-10 advantage near the midway point of the half. The Mountain Lions would push back in front by five at 19-14 with just under five to play before halftime and WNMU would close the half strong with Newsome hitting a trey and later a jumper on the fast break giving the Lady Mustangs a 27-26 lead at the break.


WNMU would pull ahead by four a pair of times throughout the early parts of the second half before breaking it open to their largest lead of 12 setting up the back-and-forth finish.


Newsome posted her season-high 28 points behind 11-of-16 shooting from the field, including a three and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Moore added 15 points, Hernandez had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds and Clark also reached double-figures with 12 points, all on three-pointers.


Kirchoff and Jeri Pikul accounted for 57 of UCCS' 79 points with Kirchoff scoring 35, 16 from the charity stripe.


WNMU shot better from the field making nearly 40 percent (28-71) to a 37.1 clip for UCCS (23-62) and held a 6-3 advantage in three-pointers. The biggest difference came at the foul line with UCCS holding a 30-13 advantage, as they attempted 20 more shots than WNMU.


WNMU will now take the next week off for the holiday break and will return to action on Friday, Jan. 3 at home against Regis beginning at 5:30 p.m.