HAYS, Kan. -- Regis was able to hang close with the Gorilla women's basketball team, but PSU took charge in the second ahlf, building out to a 25-point lead before ending with a 76-57 win in its first game of the Tiger Basketball Classic in Gross Memorial Coliseum on Friday (Nov. 20) evening. The Gorillas are now 3-0 on the season.

All 14 members on the Pitt State active roster saw valuable court time in the game, with 11 contributing points to the Gorilla cause. Mikaela Burgess led the Pitt State offensive attack with 23 points, including 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range. Kylie Gafford added nine points and freshman Shelby Lopez came off the bench to also add 9. Point guard Hadyn Herlocker was the team's leading rebounder with seve. Gafford added six rebounds and also blocked four shots. Paige Imhoff came off the bench to lead the team in assists with five.

The game was back-and-forth in the early minutes. Pitt State did not get the lead for good until Lopez hit the first of her three threes to put her team up 15-12 with 1:28 to go in the first quarter. Gafford added two free throws to give the team a 17-12 advantage at the first break.

Regis kept the Gorillas within eight until Gafford converted a tradition three-point play with just over two minutes remaining until the half. With 51 seconds to go, Burgess added a layup for the 36-24 haltime score, Pitt State's largest lead to that point.

Herlocker opened up the second half, scoring quick for PSU, but a 7-2 run by Regis brought them within seven again at 40-33. The Rangers kept it to single digits until Lopez came through with another three to put Pitt State up by 12 again. From then on, the Gorillas never led by less than double digits.

Pitt State took its first 20-point lead on Gafford free throws with 6:29 to go in the game. While the Gorillas' scoring got stronger, so did their defense, as they did not allow Regis to score from 9:15 to 4:01 in the fourth. Burgess free throws with 2:32 to go gave Pitt State the largest lead of the game, 25 points, at 73-48. Regis outscored the Gorillas 7-1 in the last 1:30 of the game to make the final score 76-57.

Pitt State will finish the Tiger Classic on Saturday with a 2 p.m. tip against St. Cloud State. The game will stream live through stretch internet and free live stats are available from Fort Hays State. Fans call also listen to Eddie Lomshek call the game live on KKOW 860 AM or kkowradio.com. Links are included on the women's basketball schedule page, as well as on the upcoming events tab on the main page of PittStateGorillas.com