The Colorado College women's basketball team utilized a balanced offense and a dominating effort on the glass to post a 61-50 victory over the University of St. Thomas in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference opener for both teams on Thursday night at Reid Arena.

Audrey Bayston led the Tigers with 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

Talia Cloud pulled down 13 rebounds and added six points, while Anna Fanelli dished out eight assists and grabbed six boards.

With her third assist during the first quarter, Fanelli became the fifth player in program history to record 250 career assists. She finished the game with 255.

Eleven of CC's 15 players who saw action scored at least one point while 13 snagged at least one rebound.

Colorado College dominated the first half and opened a 34-12 lead when Cloud scored on a layup with 1:30 remaining before the break.

The Tigers led 44-22 after Jayd Sollinger scored on an inbounds play with 4:12 left in the third quarter, but UST scored 14 consecutive points to cut its deficit to 44-36 with a little less than nine minutes to go.

Bayston scored six points during an 8-0 run to help CC restore order, and a layup by Zoe Tomlinson gave the Tigers an 18-point cushion with a little less than four minutes a remaining.

The Tigers finished with a 66-35 advantage in rebounds and outscored St. Thomas 32-6 in the paint.
    

Coaches Comments
"Tonight we showed our ability to control the glass and I was pleased with our rebounding effort on both sides of the court," head coach Katherine Menendez said. "Talia Cloud and Audrey Bayston led the charge and it helped us to maintain momentum throughout the contest."
 
"As always, Anna Fanelli controlled our tempo and got everyone involved. Watching her orchestrate our offense is truly a thing of beauty and it's fun seeing her help her teammates find success in the way of quality scoring opportunities.
 
"Healy Bledsoe and Zoë Tomlinson both had solid evenings and the points they are putting up in conjunction with their defensive efforts are yielding extremely positive results for our team."
    
   
Colorado College Standouts
Zoe Tomlinson finished with eight points and six rebounds.
Healy Bledsoe scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds.
 
St. Thomas Standouts
Nia McGee came off the bench to lead the Celts with nine points.
Hayden Morin finished with 10 rebounds, four steals and three points.
 
Notes
Colorado College improved to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the SCAC.
CC won its conference opener for the eighth year in a row.
St. Thomas slipped to 2-5 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
 
Next for the Tigers
Colorado College makes the first of back-to-back trips to the West Coast to face UC Santa Cruz on Sunday, Dec. 5, at 1 p.m. MT.