Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
1-6
Denver
2-2
Rams fall to Pioneers in Denver
11/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 28, 2007
DENVER - Senior Sara Hunter and junior Britney Minor each turned in 13-point performances, and freshman Elle Queen tied a career high with 11 rebounds, but the CSU women's basketball team fell, 68-52, to the University of Denver on Wednesday night at Magness Arena.
Despite outrebounding the Pioneers 44-38, including 18 offensive rebounds, the Rams were unable to turn those extra chances into points on the offensive end. The Rams shot just 30 percent from the floor in the loss, while allowing 41.4 percent from DU.
"I feel like everything we need to win is in our locker room," said Head Coach Jen Warden. "The beginning and the end of this is that we have layups that we are not finishing. Our shot selection is strong, we're taking care of the basketball and we're finishing at the free-throw line. We're not finishing our highest-percentage shots inside and we've simply got to do that."
Denver used a 7-for-13 shooting performance from beyond the arc in the first half to open up an early lead. Guard Andie Mason, who was 5-for-6 from three-point range in the first half, opened the game connecting on her first two attempts in the game's first 75 seconds.
The Rams battled to get out of an early 8-2 hole and cut the Pioneers' lead to just two points, 12-10, at the 12 minute mark of the first half.
The Pioneers then opened up a double-digit lead, 27-15, on the heels of a 15-5 run, capped by Mason's third three-pointer of the half at the 5:05 mark. Hunter scored the Rams' only field goal during that stretch, her 184th career three-pointer, moving into second place in the Rams' record book for career three-pointers.
Mason ended the half as she began it by hitting the team's final two buckets, a pair of three-pointers, to push the DU lead to 13 points. Colorado State closed the gap in the final 2:26. Sophomore guard Emily Neal knocked down 1 of 2 attempts from the free-throw line. Forward Juanise Cornell scored the Rams' final five points of the half, hitting a pair of free throws at the 1:17 mark, and converting a three-point play with 34 seconds remaining to send the Rams into the locker room trailing 33-26.
Colorado State began the second half on an 8-0 run to take its first lead of the game, 35-34, after holding DU scoreless for the first 6:15. The lead changed two more times on layups at either end of the court before DU regained control with a 12-0 run that began at the 12:39 mark and lasted four minutes.
Another three-pointer by Hunter kept the Rams within striking distance, with an eight-point deficit. Minor scored the Rams' final seven points of the game, but the Pioneers sealed the victory from the free-throw line, converting on eight consecutive attempts in the final 62 seconds to come away with a 68-52 victory.
Next up, Colorado State will take on another in-state rival when it faces the Colorado Buffaloes at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Moby Arena. The game will be televised on the mtn.
