CSU Pueblo women's basketball team punches ticket to NCAA Division II tournament

The Colorado State University Pueblo women’s basketball team has earned a spot in this year's NCAA Division II Basketball Tournament.

The tournament selection committee announced Sunday that the ThunderWolves had earned a sixth seed in the field of 64 teams, sending them back to the tournament for the first time since 2018.

The Pack finished its season with a 23-8 overall record and went 17-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, besting last year's record by 20 wins and setting a program record for win-differential from one season to the next.

CSU Pueblo was also the runner-up in the RMAC tournament on March 5 after defeating the tournament's No. 1 seed, Colorado School of Mines, in the semifinals, then losing to Metro State University Denver in the finals 76-68.

“It feels great,” CSU Pueblo women's basketball coach Tommie Johnson said about the team's tournament selection. “We are just trying to restore pride for Pueblo and just trying to get back to the level we want to be at.”

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Going from 13th in the RMAC to tied for second is a definite step in the right direction for the program, however, Johnson sees it as an almost bittersweet victory for his team.

“We still fell short of a couple of goals,” Johnson said. “We wanted to win our league, but this is a great consolation prize and we are going to go into the tournament and give it all we got.”

The team’s improvement from last season is a big reason why it's heading back to the D II tournament for the first time in four years.

“It's night and day (different) in terms of talent and buy-in and the learning process,” Johnson said of this year's squad. “Still with this season, we had some up and downs. But this group banded together and understood the mission.”

The tournament begins on Mar. 11 and CSU Pueblo will play No. 3-seeded Lubbock Christian University in the opening round. The ThunderWolves have already played the Chaps once this year early in the season and won that matchup 64-56, back when Lubbock was ranked No. 1 in the country.

“From an x’s and o’s standpoint we don’t take anything from (that first game),” Johnson said. “But definitely from a confidence standpoint because they were the number one team in the country at the time. I think the big thing we take away from it is knowing we can play some with the top teams in the country.”

If CSU Pueblo can get past Lubbock Christian it would either face No. 2-seeded Texas A&M Commerce — another team the Pack played early in the season — or have a rematch with Colorado School of Mines.

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Johnson said heading into the tourney, the team is just focusing on taking things "one game at a time."

“We just want to make some noise on Friday and we will go from there," Johnson said. "I feel like we can go up there and be able to handle our own and should be in any game that we play in.”

When asked what poises this year's team to make some noise in the tournament, Johnson said one distinguishing trait is their defense.

“I think we are probably more athletic than any team Pueblo has had," Johnson said. "We got a ton of athletes and we play a different brand of defense right now."

The ThunderWolves' quarterfinal matchup against Lubbock Christian will be held at First United Bank Center in Canyon, Texas. Tip-off time has not yet been announced.

Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or on Twitter @chowebacca

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: CSU Pueblo women's basketball heading back to NCAA tournament