Rams won’t count out winless Falcons
Fourscore and 12 conference games ago, Air Force hoped to change
the way people looked at the Falcons basketball franchise. The men
and their high-flying, in-your-face basketball found the perfect
way to start their journey, while the Air Force women are still
trying to find a way.
With the end of the regular season lurking, the Falcons (3-22
overall; 0-12 MWC) are still winless in Mountain West play,
bringing their losing total to 16 consecutive games. But the CSU
women’s basketball team isn’t counting Air Force out, yet.
“They are going to be pretty fired up,” said sophomore point
guard Vanessa Espinoza. “The last time we played them we started
the game 21-0. They are going to come at us with their best. We
can’t expect anything less that that.”
The Falcons record may be deceiving because they can play and
that was on display against San Diego State and conference-leading
Utah.
“San Diego State needed a buzzer beater to beat them this
weekend, and they only lost to Utah by eight” said head coach Chris
Denker.
Letricia Castillo will attempt to lead the Falcons to victory
and break the conference curse. She is the only Falcon averaging
double figures in scoring with 12.2 points per game. Seniors Shawna
Neff and Amoy Jackson are also offensive threats, averaging 9.2 per
game.
In the Feb. 7 game at Moby, Castillo led Air Force with nine
points, and the Rams Lindsay Thomas scored 19. The last time the
Rams (16-9, 7-5) lost to the Falcons was Nov. 27, 1990. But CSU
senior forward Joy Jenkins isn’t worried about the past or about
stats.
“They’ve been playing teams pretty tough,” Jenkins said. “The
stats don’t say anything, especially in our conference. I think
that on any given night any team can beat anyone.”
According to Denker the keys to winning the game are rebounding,
being aggressive on the floor and focusing on playing Ram
basketball.
“They definitely bring that nothing-to-lose attitude.” Jenkins
said. “They’re going to fight for every loose ball, they’re going
to go after every rebound and we’re just going to have to match
their intensity.”
Tip-off for the game is at 7 tonight in Colorado Springs. The
Rams will then head to The Pit on Saturday to play the final game
of the regular season against the second-place New Mexico Lobos
(18-7, 10-2). If the Rams can defeat both the Falcons and the Lobos
they will secure the third seed for the conference tournament. But
before anything can be secured they must deal with the Falcons.
“It’s a game, it’s you against another team, it’s who wants it
more,” said freshman forward Kylee O’Dwyer.
So if the public can’t depend on stats, and it’s about who wants
it more, which team can fans expect to get the win? Without
hesitation O’Dwyer said, “We better win.”
OUTBOX
Font should be ITC Franklin Gothic Book, the who what when and
where are bold. The font size should be 9 or 9.5
What: Mountain West Conference Basketball game
Who: CSU women (16-9, 7-5 Mountain West) at Air Force (3-22,
0-12)
Where: Clune Arena, Colorado Springs
When: 7 tonight
Broadcast: Live Webcast at www.csurams.com, click on yahoosports
logo
Notes: The Rams need a win at Air Force tonight and another
Saturday against New Mexico in Albuquerque to finish the conference
season 9-4 and secure a possible No. 3 seed in the MWC Tournament
March 10-13.
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