Friday,March 4, 2005
LUBBOCK, Texas – The Colorado Chill entered its game with the Lubbock Hawks on Friday night looking for their fourth road win of the season, but instead they played one of their worst games of the season and fell 89-78.

Lubbock, who was playing without three of their original starters (Kelly Mazzante, concussion; Molly Creamer, thumb; Shereka Wright, trade) from opening day, jumped out to a large halftime lead of 45-31.

The Hawks were able to jump out to the lead in large part because of poor ball handling from the Chill.

The Chill did shoot the ball fairly well in the first half at .440 (11-25), but Colorado committed 18 of its 28 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes of the game.

Becky Hammon tried to get the visiting team back in the game in the second half as she finished with a game-high of 30 points. Hammon, along with the 18 points of Carrie Bacon, helped get the Chill to within a point with four minutes to play in the game.

It wasn’t enough down the stretch for the Chill because of the veteran leadership of Sheryl Swoopes. Swoopes was clutch down the stretch connecting on seven free throws to help give the Hawks the win.

Swoopes scored 20 points and Jocelyn Penn scored 22 points to lead the way for Lubbock. With the loss Colorado drops to 12-5 on the season, but they remain a game and a half ahead of the Dallas Fury. The Fury gained ground in the league standings on Friday night with a win over the Chicago Blaze.

Lubbock improved to 10-8 and now sits just two full games behind the Chill for the top spot in the NWBL. Lubbock will host Birmingham on Sunday afternoon at Trinity University, as they will look to extend their lead over the Power and Blaze in the league standings.

The Chill will remain in the State of Texas for a Sunday afternoon game with the rapidly approaching Dallas Fury. Colorado is winless in three regular season trips to Dallas during the regular season, a mark that includes a 12-point loss on February 5.

Group tickets for the remaining three home games can be purchased from the Budweiser Events Center by calling Tracie Fehringer at 970-619-4122. Group prices start at just $5 per ticket and range up to $11 per ticket for groups of 10 or more. Individual game tickets can be purchased online at www.comcasttix.com, by phone at 877-544-8499 or at the Budweiser Events Center Box Office.

The NWBL is a six-team league that features more than 25 active WNBA players. Other teams in the league include the Birmingham Power (Birmingham, Ala.); Dallas Fury (Dallas, Texas); Chicago Blaze (Naperville, Ill.); San Jose Spiders (San Jose, Calif.) and Lubbock Hawks (Lubbock, Texas). For more information on the NWBL, visit the league website at www.triplecrownsports.com.

Colorado Chill Women’s Basketball – (970) 223-6644
Aaron M. Moore, General Manager