Bad start, horrible finish lead to Rams fourth straight loss

Laramie, Wyo. – Six turnovers in the first five minutes and four

missed layups in the final four minutes landed the CSU Women’s

basketball team its fourth loss in a row as they fell to Wyoming

58-53.

“We started off bad and finished horrible,” senior guard Jasai

Ferrucho said. “We started really slow and did not take care of the

ball. Then we slowed down and started playing basketball, but when

you miss four layups in a row, it is hard to win.”

With senior forward Joy Jenkins out with a broken nose, CSU head

coach Chris Denker mixed up the lineup, starting three freshmen.

Kylee O’Dwyer took the place of Jenkins, Annika Walseth started as

a guard instead of Vanessa Espinoza, and Marilyn Moulton got the

start at center.

“Somebody needed to come in and step up and we didn’t really

have any of that,” Denker said. “Your main players, the ones that

have been starting all year, their game has to be at or higher than

their normal game and I can’t say we had any of that either.”

Wyoming (7-11, 3-2, Mountain West) got off to a good start,

hitting two 3-pointers in the first two minutes and taking a quick

6-0 lead. After almost 14 minutes of play, the Rams (10-8, 1-4)

only managed to put up eight points, but ended the half strong and

tied the game at 23.

The Cowgirl’s pressure defense limited the Rams inside game

holding CSU to only 20 points in the paint.

“They are a very physical team. We had a hard time making layups

and a lot of that had to do with their defense,” Ferrucho said.

With less than 10 minutes remaining in the second half, the Rams

captured their first lead at 40-38. The lead went back and forth

for the remainder of the game, but the last minute belonged to

Wyoming.

The Cowgirls carried a 54-49 lead into the last minute, but

back-to-back baskets from Ferrucho and Melissa Dennett put CSU back

in the game. With time running out, the Rams were forced to send

Wyoming to the free-throw line, where they made 4-of-6 in the final

30 seconds.

“We always play well against CSU when we are at home. It is nice

to beat them,” said Wyoming guard Ashley Elliot, who led all

scorers with 18 points. “They are a better team than what they have

been playing like lately. We have to watch out for them later.”

Aside from the four missed layups, the Rams also missed key

3-pointers late in the game.

“We had some really good looks from 3 and we missed them,”

Denker said. “I did not think we played bad, we just gave them too

many free chances and did not capitalize on ours.”

Sophomore Lindsay Thomas was the leading scorer for the Rams

with 13 points. Dennett and Espinoza also reached double digits

with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Rams will have the weekend off before returning to practice

on Monday to prepare for home games against New Mexico on Thursday

and Air Force on Saturday.

“We have the weekend off to just kinda get away from basketball

and think about things,” Ferrucho said. “We have to look at

ourselves in the mirror and look at where we are at.”

The Good: CSU only committed three fouls in the first half and

never sent Wyoming to the free-throw line.

The Bad: CSU had 13 fouls in the second half and put Wyoming on

the line 21 times. The Cowgirls made 16 of those 21 free-throws

attempts.

The Ugly: After Kylee O’Dwyer threw up an airball with four

seconds left in the first half, the crowd chanted “airball,

airball” every time she touched the ball for the remainder of the

game.