Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Adams State (Exh.)
CSU women's basketball wins in Halloween thriller
10/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 31, 2008
By Danny Mattie
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – In a Halloween-night exhibition game to open up the 2008-09 season, the Colorado State women’s basketball team received a bit of a scare from the visiting Adams State Grizzlies, but used a 12-2 run over the final two minutes of the game to come away with a win in a 59-58 thriller in front 1,054 fans at Moby Arena.
With the Rams trailing 58-57 and less than 10 seconds remaining in the contest, freshman guard Kim Mestdagh rebounded the second missed free throw by Adams State’s Jocelyn Pardilla and hit the outlet pass to start a fast break up the right side of the court that led to sophomore point guard Zoi Simmons’ game-winning lay in with 0.6 seconds.
“I just and went,” said Simmons of the game-winning fast break. “The lane was wide open, so I just went for it.”
Simmons’ layup capped the Colorado State run and gave the Rams a victory in the home debut of first-year Head Coach Kristen Holt.
“This was a huge win for us even though it was an exhibition game,” said Holt. “We just went out there and gave it our all, but even though we won, we have so much that we still need to work on.”
The Adams State lead reached its largest point of the game with 3:43 remaining in the game, as Misti Solomon converted a pair of free throws to give the Grizzlies a 56-47 lead. However Bonnie Barbee responded by knocking down two consecutive treys between the 1:58 and 1:25 marks to start the Rams’ game-winning run.
Barbee finished as CSU’s leading scorer, tallying 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting, including 4-for-5 from three-point range. Simmons finished second on the team with 11 points and junior forward Juanise Cornell, who fouled out to send Pardilla to the line with nine seconds in the contest, finished just shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Juniors Alison Cheney and Devran Tanacan chipped in with seven points and eight rebounds, respectively.
Adams State’s Vera Jo Bustos led all scorers in the game with a 26-point outburst that included a 4-for-8 performance from beyond the three-point line. Bustos also finished as the games’ top rebounder with 13. Pardilla added 11 rebounds, as the Grizzlies out boarded the Rams by a 45-35 margin.
Holt and the Rams will have one more exhibition tune-up, Friday Nov. 7 at Moby Arena, against Colorado Christian before the regular season tips off Nov. at Wichita State.
