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The Colorado Christian University Cougars have had their way with the Metro women’s basketball team this season.

When the two squared off Jan. 7, CCU defended well down the stretch and won by eight points in Lakewood.

In a rematch Feb. 4, the Cougars didn’t have to rely heavily on defense in the later phases of regulation. In fact, they got their offense going immediately in an 80-64 win over the Roadrunners at the Auraria Event Center.

Metro senior point guard Jasmine Cervantes surpassed 1,000 points in her collegiate career, but the Roadrunners fell to 18-2 (14-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference), while Colorado Christian improved to 11-11 (9-7 in the RMAC).

“Our offense was OK, but our defense wasn’t there,” Cervantes said. “Any time we got any momentum, it seemed like they would just score a three or shoot a really good shot.”

The Cougars have now won back-to-back games against the Runners.

“These girls are starting to come together,” CCU head coach Tim Hays said of his squad. “Time and time again, people stepped up and made plays.”

CCU built a 30-18 lead in the first 12 minutes, and carried that persistent scoring the rest of the way.

Metro managed to cut the deficit to six points a minute into the second half, but CCU was too overwhelming.

“We missed some of those layups, especially early in the second half. I think that really affected us [and] our intensity on the defensive end,” Metro head coach Tanya Haave said. “We dug ourselves a hole that we weren’t going to get out of.”

With less than six minutes left in the game, CCU had complete control with a commanding 73-49 lead.

Although Metro started scoring late, the Runners couldn’t overcome the damage CCU inflicted.

After bombarding the Roadrunners with 25 points during the last game, Christina Whitelaw had another masterful performance with a game high 27 points.

“I think the momentum we’re going to get from this [win] is huge,” Whitelaw said.

Senior forward Caley Dow led Metro with 21 points, and Cervantes scored 12 to break 1,000 career points. The game against Colorado School of Mines on Feb. 6 bumped Cervantes’ career point total to 1,022.

“I’m glad I was able to do that,” Cervantes said. “I wasn’t aware I was that close to accomplishing that goal.”