The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Women's Basketball team opened their season with a weekend split; losing to Madison College 70-59 on Friday night, and defeating Milwaukee Tech 73-69 on Saturday.

Both games were played as part of the Border Battle Classic in Madison, WI.

Vs. Madison College (L 70-59)

In their opening game, the Golden Rams jumped out to a 12-6 lead midway through the first quarter, and led 20-13 after the first period.

Madison opened the second quarter on a 9-2 run to tie the score 22 apiece with 6:18 left in the half.  A three-pointer by Daron Mainville gave the Golden Rams a 25-22 lead, but the Wolfpack would again knot the score, this time 27-27 with 2:17 to play.

Madison would go ahead 29-27, but a free throw by Za'Keea Sa'eed-El and a three-pointer by Rashonna Thomas would give Anoka-Ramsey a 31-29 lead at halftime.

Anoka-Ramsey would outscore Madison 17-15 in the third quarter behind 11 points from Lexus Hughes and lead 48-44 heading into the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately the offense sputtered in the final period, as the Golden Rams were out-scored 26-11 while shooting just 3 of 17 (17.6 percent) from the floor, and Madison prevailed 70-59.

The Golden Rams finished the game shooting 21 of 73 (28.8 percent) including 6 of 31 (19.4 percent) from the three-point line.

Thomas led the scoring with 18 points knocking down 3 of 9 three-point attempts to go with six rebounds.

Hughes finished with 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds, and Mainville chipped in 15 points and four rebounds.

Vs. Milwaukee Tech (W 73-69)

The Golden Rams picked up their first win of the season behind 21 points from Thomas who made 6 three-point field goals.

Anoka-Ramsey fell behind early as Milwaukee opened a 19-9 lead half-way through the opening period.  The Golden Rams managed to trim the deficit to six (21-15) after the first quarter thanks to tough defense that forced four Milwaukee turnovers in the final four minutes.

Milwaukee responded to open the second quarter by once again building a double-digit lead, 29-18 with 6:07 to play in the half.

Back-to-back three-pointers from Thomas and Laya Sath cut the deficit to five.

Thomas would connect on two more three-pointers in the period.  A Makayla Paggen three-pointer tied the score at 33 apiece with 2:09 left.

But Milwaukee would finish on a 6-0 run to take a 39-33 into the break.

Still trailing by six, 41-35, the Golden Rams would mount their comeback with a 16-4 run and take a 51-44 lead.  Leading the charge during the run was Mainville (5 points) and Sath (8 points).

The Golden Rams would push the lead to ten, 59-49, and eventually settle for a 61-54 lead at the end of the third period.

Milwaukee would cut the Golden Ram lead to just one point, 66-65 with 5:32 to play and again, 70-69, with 3:06 left.

Neither team would score again until a Sath free throw with 18 seconds to play would push the lead to two.

Mainville would seal the game with two free throws of her own with five seconds remaining and Anoka-Ramsey escaped with the win.

Mainville scored 16 points, and Sath finished with 15.  Sa'eed-El had a team-high eight rebounds.

The Golden Rams will travel to Wahpeton, ND for two games on Friday and Saturday of this week.

First up will be a 2pm tilt vs. Dakota College-Bottineau on Friday, before facing North Dakota State College of Science at 4pm on Saturday.