The UCCS women’s basketball team ended their 2023-2024 season on March 9th, after a loss against Regis University in the RMAC championship kept them from advancing to the NCAA tournament. The Mountain Lions ended with a record of 23-8 and 18-4 in the RMAC, finishing third.
UCCS averaged 67.7 points per game along with 33.9 rebounds, 12.4 assists, 10.2 steals and 3.2 blocks. Junior forward Maison White finished the season averaging 13 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game. White totaled 29 blocks and 27 steals on the defensive end.
Junior guard Amyah Moore Allen ended the season averaging 12.7 points per game and finished with a total of 57 steals and 23 blocks.
Coach Misty Wilson and Moore Allen reflected on the highlights of the season and what they hope to achieve moving toward the next season. This season, Wilson helped to build the confidence of her teams and learn from the tough games they lost.
“Seeing the change in how our players viewed themselves, you know, coming off of what they’ve been experiencing I guess in the last few years, and you kind of saw when we first came here just not a real confident group and a group that didn’t really have a whole lot of beliefs in themselves, as a team or as individuals, so seeing that change as we started winning and having some success and they started walking with their heads a little higher and a little more swagger and confidence, so that’s been the highlight of my season,” Wilson said.
“I’d say winning that championship because that was my first so that would be like a highlight, but you know for her [Wilson] coming her first year, that would be a highlight,” Moore Allen said.
The success the Mountain Lions experienced this season came with challenges and losses. but Wilson thinks it is important to have successes and failures throughout the season.
“Well, I think we lost a few [games] early in those learning stages, and you know if we were able to just kind of pull a couple of those out, we would’ve been more likely to be in the regional tournament at the end of the season. There’s not a whole lot about the season that I would change because you’ve got to go through those moments of failure to understand where you’re at and also improve on those,” Wilson said.
Coach Wilson developed strategies to challenge her team both on and off the court to prepare them for the tougher games and pressure they might encounter.
“Putting them in challenging situations in practice and outside of the gym too. They did a lot of community service, I bet that we did more community service together than any other group. We would throw different things at them; we did a ranger challenge with the ROTC group that competes so we stepped into their world for a bit and that was a challenge for our players because it’s a different type of competition and battle so we try and put them in situations where they are uncomfortable so they are more comfortable in situations that get difficult in games and we did a lot of team building,” Wilson said.
This season, Moore Allen balanced school, athletics and motherhood while meeting her goals and valuing her accomplishments. She said the key to managing all of this was being persistent.
“You have to be persistent in everything you do, so I have to be persistent when being a mom, you know? I have to do my school and make sure I’m on time for practice, so I have to be very determined to do that, and I feel like I have a lot of that in me and I get that from my parents.”
“My biggest accomplishment was in the Adams game, I feel like I really showed up that game and I felt like my team really needed me and it was like one of those moments that a hooper really wants at the end of the game, you know? You make the shot and get the steal, I feel like it was one of those moments I needed for myself,” Moore Allen said.
Looking to next season, Moore Allen hopes to become a more all-around player in everything. She wants to be someone that is unstoppable. Moore Allen’s goal is to be a more vocal leader and change the way her team perceives her. Her biggest motivation to continue putting a lot of effort into her playing is her daughter.
“I feel like she deserves the world, and I will give that to her. She obviously loves basketball too, and she loves watching me play so you know seeing her out in the stands, I got to go do mommy things in a different sense of working hard and I work hard for her,” Moore Allen said.
The Mountain Lions weren’t able to continue their journey after their loss against Regis and both Coach Wilson and Moore Allen were devastated that the team did not advance into the NCAA tournament.
“My issue is more with the championship game than it is with the committee. I understand how the committee came to the decision, but had the championship game been a little more fair, it would have been out of the committee’s hands. I understand why if you look at the numbers and strength of schedule, but at the same time, I think you have to look at the last month or two months, especially conference play. That was heartbreaking,” Coach Wilson said.
With the success of the season, Coach Wilson and Moore Allen were pleased with the support from the community, saying it was remarkable and, as they progressed, they started to see more support, and they hope the community continues to buy into the program and support them next season.
Amyah Moore Allen cuts down the net on Mar. 2. Photo by Lillian Davis.