BELOIT, Wis. - The Regents began its 2012-13 campaign with visit to Flood Arena to take on the Beloit College Buccaneers on Thursday night. The Regents and Buccaneers battled back and forth for much of the evening with neither team able to put much distance between each other. Rockford's largest lead of the evening came with 5:42 left in the first half when it took a 29-20 lead. However, the Buccanners closed the first half on an 11-2 run knotting the game at 32-32 at halftime. Beloit continued its momentum into the second half buiding a nine point lead of its own just over five minutes into the second half. Rockford would answer however, methodically trimming the Beloit lead until it was down to a single point, 57-56, with under eight minutes remaining. Unfortunately that would be as close as the Regents would get as the Buccs closed the game on a 21-10 run to win the game 78-66.

Despite the loss Rockford got excellent play from its bench Thursday night. The Regents bench outscored the Buccaneers bench 29-18. Junior Arielle Nichols (Tampa, Fla./Land O' Lakes) was lights out from three-point range in her first game in a Regents uniform. Nichols went 4-7 from beyond the arc scoring 12 points and collecting 2 rebounds. Forward Jessica Bjerning (Wauconda, Ill./Mundelein) also played well off the bench scoring 8 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and getting 1 assist while playing in just 17 minutes.

Senior starting forward Nicole Lawler (Pearl City, Ill./Pearl City) started off her season with a very solid performance. Lawler led the team in both scoring and rebounding with 14 points and 7 rebounds. The senior also dished out 2 assists and blocked a shot to round out her evening.

The women's basketball team will have its home opener against the Coe College Kohawks on Saturday, November 17th. The Regents are 0-1 against Coe in the last twenty years with the lone meeting coming last season in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Saturday's game is set to tipoff at 3:00 p.m.