Colorado State Women’s Basketball Wins First Mountain West Road Contest

The Colorado State women’s basketball team won its first road

contest in Mountain West Conference play, defeating Brigham Young

72-64 at the Marriott Center Saturday afternoon. The win brings the

Rams to 13-9 overall and 4-5 in league action while the Cougars

fall to 12-10 on the year and 2-6 in the Mountain West.

Senior guard Jasai Ferrucho tallied a career-high 14 assists –

one shy of the school record. She also tied her season-high with

six rebounds and led the team with three steals. Sophomore center

Lindsay Thomas recorded her fourth double-double of the year,

leading the team in both scoring and rebounding with 18 points and

10 boards. Sophomore guard Vanessa Espinoza scored 17, seven from

the free-throw line, while sophomore forward Melissa Dennett added

13 and freshman guard Annika Walseth tied her career-high with 11

points, including three 3-pointers.

The Rams used a quick start to jump out to a big 28-10 lead at

the halfway point of the first half. After BYU’s Nancy Seljaas hit

a jumper to put an end to a nine-point CSU scoring run, the Rams

went on a 6-1 run en route to a 21-point, 34-13 lead, which would

prove to be the team’s largest of the game.

“Tonight in the first half might have been best half of

basketball we’ve played, certainly defensively,” said CSU head

coach Chris Denker. “We might have a great rebounding game, but we

don’t have a scoring game or vice versa, but we haven’t done both

in a long time together. In the first half, (BYU) had 19 missed

shots and we had 18 defensive rebounds which is a huge

accomplishment.”

Down 21, BYU closed out the half scoring 10 of the last 16

points, with the six CSU points coming off Espinoza’s 3-pointers,

for the 40-23 halftime score.

BYU jumped out quick in the second half, scoring the first five

points in less than a minute, forcing Denker to call a timeout at

the 19:11 mark. The time out proved to do little for CSU as the

Cougars cut the Rams’ lead to 10 (42-32).

Helping the Cougars claw back into the game were junior guard

Julie Sullivan and Ashleigh Chamberlain, who scored 14 points each

to lead all BYU scorers.

Trailing 56-40, BYU gave a last gasp effort to get back in the

game, using a 13-2 run to close within five, 58-53. Freshman

forward Katie O’Dwyer snapped the BYU streak with a layup. Trading

points the rest of the way, the Rams managed to stay on top, making

seven of eight free throws in the final minute of the game to win

72-64.

The Rams return home to host San Diego State and Nevada-Las

Vegas at 7 p.m., on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.