COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Southwestern University Pirates women's basketball team struggled in the fourth quarter on the first night of their two-game road trip in Colorado, losing 77-67 to the Colorado College Tigers.
Cecily Woolfolk led three Pirates in double figures, producing a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Zhazze Brown had 13 points and Noel Pratts scored 10 for the Pirates, who inserted Kelsey Faykus into the starting lineup, getting four points and 10 rebounds.
Senior Tori Carraway shined in her role leading the second unit, scoring eight points on 3-for-5 shooting and grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Pirates simply had too few answers for the firepower in the Tigers' backcourt. Guards McKenzee Gertz and Casey Torbet combined for a deadly efficient 46 points with each producing a double-double, though by different means.
McKenzee Gertz scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, spacing the floor with four 3-pointers on seven attempts and shooting 10-for-16 overall. Torbet had 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting, conducting the offense masterfully with 10 assists to just one turnover.
The pair scored seven each in the first quarter to give Colorado College a 22-17 lead. Southwestern fought back, outworking the Tigers on the glass for a 50-36 advantage on the glass to outscore Colorado College 20-9 in second-chance points to take a 49-48 lead into the fourth quarter.
Torbet broke free in the fourth, though, scoring 10 points on five shots and dishing out six assists while Gertz hit all five of her shot attempts, including two 3-pointers, to score 12 of her 24 points and give the Tigers the victory.
With the loss, the Pirates drop to 7-12 on the season and 6-4 in conference. Southwestern will continue its road trip with a game against JWU (Denver) tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.