ROCKFORD, Ill.- The Rockford University women's basketball team returned to its home court Tuesday night to take on the Dominican University Stars. This is the second meeting between the two teams with Rockford winning handily in the first match up 78-56. The Regents came into the game with a 4-7 record in conference and 6-9 overall and the Stars came in 0-11 and 0-16 overall. Coming into the game, Rockford had a one game lead for the final conference tournament spot.
Rockford got out to an early start and had led the game until seven minutes into it when Dominican tied the game up at 19 with a three-pointer. Over the next six minutes the Regents would then go on a 13-2 run to pull ahead 32-21. Arielle Nichols (Tampa, Fla./Land O' Lakes) led the way with five points and Katie Clark (Rock City, Ill./Dakota) contributed four off the bench. After Dominican made a layup Rockford again took control of the game. Three different Regents made baskets to push their led to 17 with three minutes left in the half. The Stars would control the rest of the half going on a 9-2 run of their own to bring the first half score to 42-32 Rockford. Six different Regents scored five or more points in the half.
Dominican's hot streak from the end of the first half carried over into the second half and they slowly ate away at Rockford's lead. The Stars hit a three-pointer four minutes into the half to cut the Regents lead down to four. Rockford would respond by completely taking over the game and putting it out of reach. From the 16:14 mark to the 9:41 mark Rockford would go on a 29-5 run. Clark would dominate the paint for the Regents scoring 14 points, making all six of her shots, and both of her free throw shots. The Regents would cruise the rest of the way to a 91-55 victory. Their largest lead was 36 and their lead was never less than 26 the rest of the way.
In total 12 different Regents put points on the scoreboard, five of which were in double-digits. Clark had a game high 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting. She also recorded a game high 13 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Rockford shot 51% from the field, making 39-of-77 shots.
Next up for the Regents is a game at Lakeland College on January 25th at 4:15 p.m. Their next home game is on February 1st at 4:15 p.m. against MSOE.
