Colorado State University Athletics
Women?s Basketball Preview ? Game 23: San Diego State
2/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Home Again: The final homestand for the 2004 Colorado State women?s basketball team begins on Thursday against San Diego State. Colorado State is 5-6 in Fort Collins against the Aztecs and have won the last three in Moby Arena. The Rams then face UNLV on Saturday and Wyoming next Friday before hitting the road for the final two conference games of the year.
First Road Conference Win: Colorado State won its first road contest in Mountain West Conference play, defeating BYU 72-64 at the Marriott Center. Senior guard Jasai Ferrucho tallied a career-high assists and came within one of the school record with 14. She also had a season-high 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.
Utah Recap: Colorado State dropped a 71-57 decision to undefeated Utah at the Huntsman Center. Senior forward Joy Jenkins led the Rams with 13 points, while Lindsay Thomas scored 11 and Melissa Dennett chipped in 10. Thomas also led the Rams with seven rebounds, while Jenkins grabbed six boards. Jasai Ferrucho and Annika Walseth and freshman forward Kylee O?Dwyer each had four assists on the evening, while Vanessa Espinoza led with two steals.
Fourteen-Course Meal: Jasai Ferrucho came within one of the school record in assists against BYU on Saturday, dishing out 14 in 34 minutes of play. The school record of 15 is held by Dee Dee Dominguez against Long Beach State on Dec. 21, 1994. Ferrucho also came within one of the Mountain West record of 15 held by Latoya Howell of the Air Force Academy against UNLV on Jan. 30, 2003. Ferrucho now has 111 assists on the season, which ranks 16th on the single-season charts at CSU. The record is 174 held by Becky Hammon from the 1998-99 season (36 games).
Dynamic Duo: The duo of sophomores Melissa Dennett and Lindsay Thomas is averaging 14.18 rebounds per game. The last pair to average more than that was Shannon Randles and Zenarae Pieters in 1996-97 (15.42 per game). There have only been 12 times in school history where a pair of players have combined for more rebounds per game than Dennett and Thomas and only twice have both players been sophomores or lower in class standing.
Denver Airwaves: The game against Utah on Thurs. night was the first of five games aired on KBJD 1650 AM in Denver. The other four contests are Feb. 19 vs San Diego State, Feb. 27 vs Wyoming, Mar. 4 at Air Force and Mar. 6 at New Mexico.
Dynamic Duo, II: The two starting guards, Vanessa Espinoza and Jasai Ferrucho have combined for 168 assists this season, or 7.64 per game. That is the sixth highest total in school history, with three of those seasons including school record holder Becky Hammon. The record for assists per game by two players is 9.59 by Dee Dee Dominguez and Debbie Carson in 1992-93.
Outside Threat?: Sophomore Lindsay Thomas made the second three-pointer of her career against BYU on Saturday. Thomas is 2-of-10 from beyond the arc, making one in each of her two seasons with the Rams. Interestingly, of the 10 three-point attempts for Thomas, five have come in games against BYU, where she is 1-for-5.
Queens Of The Mountain: Lindsay Thomas sits atop the league in field goal percentage, shooting .534 on the year, while Jasai Ferrucho leads in assists per game at 5.05. In conference play only, the Rams are first in field goal percentage (.438), while individually, Ferrucho is averaging 6.44 assists per game to lead the league and has the best assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.76. Vanessa Espinoza leads in three-pointers made per game with 2.00.
It?s Offensive: Melissa Dennett is currently tied for 17th on the Colorado State single-season chart with 64 offensive rebounds, while Lindsay Thomas is in 22nd with 62. With one more, Dennett will move into a tie for 15th, while one more will move Thomas into a tie for 20th. Both could end the season ranked among the top five in offensive rebounds at their current paces.
Oh So Close: With her next point, senior Joy Jenkins will move into 19th on the career scoring chart with 775 points. Sue Ellis (1976-80) currently sits in 19th with 775 points. Jenkins also needs 47 points to pass Cindy Wittebort (1974-78) and move into 18th. She is also just seven offensive rebounds shy of moving into 17th on the career charts and with one more blocked shot will tie for 15th in CSU history.
Did You Know?: Colorado State is 6-1 when the two seniors on the roster, Jasai Ferrucho and Joy Jenkins, combine for a double-double. The pair have five games with the double-double in points and rebounds and two in points and assists. The lone loss came at UNLV when the duo combined for 23 points, nine rebounds and 13 assists.
Home Cooking: Head Coach Chris Denker is now 10-1 in Moby Arena against league opponents and 2-10 on the road in conference play since he started at the beginning of last season.
Mark It Down: Colorado State is 7-1 this season when at least four Rams are in double figures in the scoring column. On the flip side, the Rams are 2-3 when two or less Rams hit double digits.
Close Count: In games decided by 10-points or less this season, the Rams are 3-6, however in games decided by more than 10 points, the Rams are 10-3.
On Pace: Senior Jasai Ferrucho currently has 58 assists in Mountain West Conference play for an average of 6.44 per game. If she continues at her current pace, she will end league play with 90 assists, which will place her second in the MWC record books behind the 95 by Erin Thorn from BYU last season.
Diesel Power: Melissa Dennett is the only player on the team this season to have started all 22 games. Vanessa Espinoza, Jasai Ferrucho, Kylee O?Dwyer, Lindsay Thomas and Annika Walseth have all played in all 22 games, but Dennett is the only one to start them all.
Getting To The Line: Senior Joy Jenkins is one of the best free throw percentage shooters in Colorado State history, ranking fourth at .807 (113-140), based on 100 attempts. She is also 24-of-28 (.857) from the charity stripe this season, but has not been to the line in the last seven games -- since BYU on Jan. 15 -- where she connected on five of six attempts.
On This Date: Colorado State is 3-5 in games played on Feb. 19. The Rams are 2-1 in Moby Arena, 1-4 in games played on the road and have not played on a neutral floor. The last time the Rams played on Feb. 19, they defeated Utah in Moby, 57-56 in 2000.
Made To Be Broken: If the season were to end today, Vanessa Espinoza would break the single-season record for three-point field goal percentage at CSU. The sophomore is shooting .475 from beyond the arc (38-80) and leads the league with 2.00 three-pointers made per game. The CSU record for three-point field goal percentage is .440 held by Elizabeth English (44-100) from 1999-2000. Espinoza also sits first in career three-point field goal percentage at .422 (49-116) with a minimum of 75 attempts. In second is Brenda Brunner at .415 (59-142) from 1993-96.
Heating Up: Sophomore Melissa Dennett has scored in double figures in the last seven games for the Rams and in eight of nine conference tilts. Dennett leads the team with 13.2 points per game, including a 14.1 per game mark in conference play. Lindsay Thomas has also scored in double figures in the last five games for the Rams and has hit at least 10 points in six of the last seven games.
Guard Duty: Colorado State is 13-2 when the two starting guards combine for 20 or more points. The two losses came at the hands of Boston College and Colorado. With Vanessa Espinoza and Jasai Ferrucho combining for 20 or more, the Rams are 11-2 this year and are 0-7 when the pair fail to reach the 20-point barrier.
Ram Record Book Against San Diego State:
Tripled Up: CSU has made at least two three-pointers in its last 66 games, dating back to an 0-for-14 performance against San Diego State on Jan. 17, 2002. The Rams have also sunk at least one trey in 300 of the last 301 games, dating back to Nov. 25, 1994 against Penn in the first game of the season.
Extremely Loyal: Colorado State has played in front of at least 1,200 fans in its last 106 games in Moby Arena, dating back to Dec. 30, 1997 against Eastern Washington where only 1,178 people were in the stands. The last game with less than 1,000 fans in Moby Arena came way back on Jan. 5, 1996 when there were 811 in the stands for a game against Idaho State -- a span of 130 games.
Stat Filler: Freshman Kylee O?Dwyer is doing all the little things during her first season with the Rams. She is averaging 5.5 points, which ranks sixth on the team and first among freshmen, and is averaging 3.5 rebounds per game to lead all freshmen and rank fourth on the squad. She is also third on the team with 53 assists, fourth on the team with six blocks and has nailed 14 three-pointers for fourth-most on the team.
Listen Live: Every Colorado State women?s basketball game can be heard over the airwaves this season and can also be found on the internet. Brian Roth announces the play-by-play for the fourth consecutive season and Corbu Stathes adds the color commentary for the third year in a row. The games can be heard live on KIIX 1410 AM on the Colorado State Sports Network and can be found by clicking on the purple Yahoo! icon on the front page of the CSU website at www.csurams.com.
Coaches TV Show: The Ram Basketball Report airs each Saturday morning on ESPN2 (Channel 46 in Fort Collins), and repeats each Tuesday and Thursday (Channel 68).
Streaks, Milestones and Notes:
Coaches Radio Show: Join Chris Denker and the dean of Colorado State women?s basketball broadcasts Brian Roth at Johnny Carino?s every Tuesday evening from 5-6. The duo will recap the previous week, preview the upcoming week and answer any questions. Listen to the show on KIIX 1410 AM.
Home Court Advantage: Since the inception of the Mountain West Conference, Colorado State is 28-4 in Moby Arena against league opponents. The Rams posted perfect 7-0 records in 2002 and 2003 and are 3-1 this season. The 28-4 mark since the beginning of the conference is tied for the best mark in the league with Utah, while New Mexico is 27-4.
Ticket Information: Tickets to all home Colorado State games are available by calling the Ram Ticket Office at 1-800-491-RAMS or locally, 491-RAMS. Tickets are also available for purchase on the Colorado State website at www.csurams.com. Reserved single-game tickets are just $8, while general admission is $6 and youth general admission is $4. CSU students are admitted for free.
Twice Honored: Lindsay Thomas was named Mountain West Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 11 after helping the Rams to a 2-0 record, recording a career-high 19 points and 12 rebounds vs. Montana. Thomas added 12 points and seven rebounds in just 20 minutes against IPFW, hitting 6-of-9 shots from the field. For the week, Thomas averaged 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from the field. Melissa Dennett was named the Mountain West Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 15 after helping lead the Rams to victories over Denver and San Francisco. Dennett scored a career-high 24 points at Denver. Dennett scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a 71-63 victory at San Francisco. For the week, Dennett averaged 19.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 53.1 percent from the floor.
Series Story: This will be the 26th meeting between San Diego State and Colorado State with the Aztecs holding a 17-8 lead in the all-time series. The Rams are 5-6 in Fort Collins but are just 2-10 in San Diego and the series is tied at one-game each on a neutral floor. The most points scored by a CSU team is 81 on two different occasions while the Aztecs scored 101 back in 1992. The longest winning streak for the Rams is four, while the Aztecs won nine straight from 1992 to 1995. Colorado State has won the last three in Fort Collins and have won five of the last seven meetings between the two teams.
Early Signings: Colorado State signed two student-athletes to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period in Nov.:
Scouting The Opposition:
Freshman Michelle Elliott leads the Aztecs with 13.0 points per game, while sophomore Ashlee Dunlap is second on the team with 11.9 points and leads the team with 9.0 rebounds per game. Senior Nicolette McCartny leads the team with 25 blocks, while Elliott has a team-high 45 assists and Dunlap has 30 steals to lead the team. Freshman Courtney Fritz has nailed a team-high 42 three-pointers on the season. In conference play only, Elliott is the only Aztec in double figures in scoring, averaging 12.1, while Dunlap leads the team with 6.4 caroms a contest. Veronica Shaw has 19 assists and 15 steals to lead the team in both categories, while McCartny leads with 10 blocked shots and Fritz has 14 triples.
San Diego State is averaging 55.1 points and 33.2 rebounds per game, while allowing 60.2 points and 35.4 rebounds. The Aztecs are shooting .382 from the field, .299 from the three-point line and .627 from the free throw line. They are averaging 11.0 assists, 17.3 turnovers, 7.4 steal and 2.9 blocks per game. Against conference foes, the Aztecs are averaging 50.5 points and 29.9 rebounds, while allowing 65.9 points and 35.0 rebounds. They are shooting .382 from the field, .255 from beyond the arc and just .548 from the charity stripe. They are averaging 10.9 assists, 16.4 turnovers, 6.8 steals and 2.8 blocks per game.
Head Coach Jim Tomey is in his second season with the Aztecs and sports a 16-32 record.
