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.
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