Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
1-0
San Francisco
0-1
Women's Basketball Wins Season Opener, 72-64
11/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Colorado State women?s basketball team picked up its first win of the season in their regular season opener on Friday night.
The Rams defeated San Francisco for the third straight year, 72-64, improving Head Coach Chris Denker?s record to 3-0 in season openers at Colorado State. The victory also marked Denker?s 80th career win and his 39th at CSU.
The team recorded two double-doubles for the first time since December 19, 2001. Melissa Dennett posted 15 points and 10 boards and Lindsay Thomas finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
The Rams also had two other players score in double figures. Junior Vanessa Espinoza finished with 15 points, shooting 5 for 13 from the field and freshman Sara Hunter had 12 points, all on three pointers.
The Rams came out of the gates strong led by Hunter who helped the team to an early 6-0 lead with two quick threes. The Rams continued to run, building an 18-6 lead with 13 minutes remaining in the first half. The Dons did not go away though and chiseled the Rams lead down to just one, 35-34, with 3:40 remaining in the first half.
CSU managed to hold onto the lead and went on a 4-0 run the last minute of the half to take a 46-40 advantage into intermission. Thomas led the Rams? in scoring at the half, with 13 points after converting on 7 of 8 from the free throw line to open the game.
The team did not trail in the first half and shot 45.7 percent from the field.
The Rams came out a bit sluggish in the second half though, and saw their lead drift away when the Dons went on a 10-1 run to open the period.
Both teams continued to battle deep into the half. The Dons led by as many as seven in the second before the Rams clawed back, tying the game at 60 on a free throw by sophomore Liz Kramer with just under five minutes to play. Colorado State eventually took the lead back with 2:56 remaining and did not look back. Espinoza hit a huge jumper with 2:21 left in the game to take the wind out of the Dons? sails.
On the next possession Espinoza made another big play, stealing the ball from Amber Grier and then hitting a free throw after being fouled to bump the score to 66-62. Lindsay Thomas then put up a big stop on the opposite end of the court and Annika Walseth hit a huge three to put the Rams up by 69-62. After a bucket by San Francisco Walseth iced the victory for Colorado State with two free throws.
For the game the Rams shot 23 of 58 from the field, just under 40 percent. The team also shot 50 percent from behind the three-point line. CSU struggled from the free-throw line in the second half, converting on only 11 of 19 tries, but still shot 66.7 percent for the game.
The Rams will be in action again on Monday when they take on 10th-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. The Fighting Irish are 3-0 on the season after defeating sixth-ranked Duke, Nebraska and Illinois State. Tip is set for 7 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. MT. Complete results will be available at the conclusion of play on CSURAMS.com.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS San Francisco Lady Dons vs Colorado State 11-19-04 7:05pm at Moby Arena, Fort Collins, CO -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: San Francisco Lady Dons 0-1 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 02 JONES, Jenni........ f 2-5 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 0 4 2 0 0 0 18 23 KRUEGER, Mary Jane.. f 5-13 0-0 2-7 1 4 5 2 12 3 2 2 2 34 05 JENSEN, Leeane...... c 5-12 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 5 10 3 0 1 2 28 11 RUSSELL, Toni....... g 2-5 1-2 0-0 2 1 3 4 5 1 3 0 1 21 12 CARTER, Dominique... g 4-4 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 8 0 0 0 0 14 04 KATSUYAMA, Jennifer. 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 4 2 0 1 2 20 14 STEPHENS, Lashaunte. 2-9 0-1 2-6 0 1 1 2 6 0 2 0 1 25 21 PEASE, Nykia........ 3-4 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 6 4 0 0 0 9 22 GRIER, Amber........ 2-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 3 5 1 1 0 0 13 51 SITTON, Breann...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 55 OLDEN, Lisa......... 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 3 4 2 0 0 0 16 TEAM................ 4 5 9 Totals.............. 29-61 1-4 5-15 10 21 31 23 64 18 9 4 8 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-35 54.3% 2nd Half: 10-26 38.5% Game: 47.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-3 33.3% 2nd Half: 0-1 0.0% Game: 25.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 4-11 36.4% Game: 33.3% 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Colorado State 1-0 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 32 DENNETT, Melissa.... f 6-9 0-0 3-3 3 7 10 0 15 1 2 0 0 26 43 TOR-AGBIDYE, Msur... c 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 0 1 3 0 10 04 HUNTER, Sara........ g 4-9 4-8 0-0 1 1 2 4 12 1 0 0 0 20 05 ESPINOZA, Vanessa... g 5-13 2-2 3-6 1 2 3 2 15 4 1 0 2 33 21 WALSETH, Annika..... g 1-4 1-2 3-4 2 4 6 0 6 3 2 0 0 32 15 KRAMER, Liz......... 1-4 1-2 1-2 0 1 1 0 4 3 0 0 0 17 31 O'DWYER, Kylee...... 1-3 0-2 1-2 1 2 3 1 3 1 4 3 2 25 45 THOMAS, Lindsay..... 3-8 0-0 7-8 3 9 12 2 13 1 4 1 0 20 51 MOULTON, Marilyn.... 1-5 0-0 0-2 4 1 5 2 2 0 1 0 0 17 TEAM................ 2 1 3 1 Totals.............. 23-58 8-16 18-27 17 28 45 13 72 14 16 7 4 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-35 45.7% 2nd Half: 7-23 30.4% Game: 39.7% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 7-12 58.3% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 50.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 7-8 87.5% 2nd Half: 11-19 57.9% Game: 66.7% 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Jack Jones, Laure Rahe, Cid Garcia Technical fouls: San Francisco Lady Dons-None. Colorado State-None. Attendance: 1560 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total San Francisco Lady Dons....... 40 24 - 64 Colorado State................ 46 26 - 72 Points in the paint-USF 34,CS 20. Points off turnovers-USF 18,CS 7. 2nd chance points-USF 10,CS 12. Fast break points-USF 8,CS 0. Bench points-USF 25,CS 22. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-2 times. Last FG-USF 2nd-00:47, CS 2nd-01:10.
