RENO, Nev. – The University of Nevada women’s basketball team closed out the regular season with a 53-51 loss to Colorado State Saturday afternoon at Lawlor Events Center.

With the loss, Nevada drops to (7-22, 2-14 MW) on the season while Colorado State improves to (11-18, 7-9 MW).

The Wolf Pack jumped out to a 6-2 lead on two made three-pointers, one by Danika Sharp and the other by Emily Burns. Colorado State took its first lead of the game at 7-6 on a jumper by Alicia Nichols at the 14:53 mark. Sam Martin’s layup extended the Rams lead to 18-13 with six minutes left in the half. Amber Smith knocked down a shot from deep to cut the deficit to 20-19 with 3:03 on the clock. The Rams led the Wolf Pack 25-19 at the break. Smith led Nevada with six first half points.

Mandy Makkeever’s shot from beyond the three-point line stretched the Colorado State lead to double-digits at 35-23 early in the second half. Emily Burns connected from long range on a Nevada fast break to pull the team within four points of Colorado State at 39-35 with 12:58 to play. The Rams responded with six unanswered points to push the lead back to double-figures at 45-35 near the midway point. Amber Smith fed Mimi Mungedi on the block for a layup to cut the deficit to 45-42 with seven minutes to play.

Arielle Wideman’s runner in the lane with 5:04 on the clock tied the game at 49-49. Nevada reclaimed a lead of 51-49 on a jump shot by Smith. Alicia Nichols hit one of two free throw attempts to tie the game at 51-51 with 1:05 remaining in the game. Colorado State’s Hayley Thompson collected a Rams miss and scored in the paint to give her team a 53-51 lead with 18 seconds left on the clock. Nevada had a final possession to tie the game, but the Rams defense came up with a stop to hold on and win the game.

Amber Smith led all scorers with a career high 17 points. Danika Sharp finished with 11 points.

Nevada will face Air Force in the play-in game of the 2013 Mountain West Championship next Tuesday at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.