Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
1-5
Denver
2-3
Rams' Beemer tallies 18 in loss to Pioneers
12/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2008
By Danny Mattie
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Senior captain Kandy Beemer shot 6-for-9 from the field, including 5-for-8 from three-point range, and finished with a season-best 18 points, but the Colorado State (1-5) dropped its third straight game, 69-53, to the DU Pioneers (2-3) in front of 1,971 fans at Moby Arena on Wednesday. The Rams were unable to recover from a slow first half in which the team posted a season-low shooting performance of 20 percent (6-for-30).
Freshman forward Chatilla van Grinsven, making her first career start for the Rams, opened the scoring with a layup at the 18:48 mark, but DU’s Ashly Robinson answered quickly with a layup at 18:31 to start a 9-0 Pioneers run. The run gave DU a lead it would never relinquish.
“I thought that we were getting some shots, early on, that we should have hit,” said Head Coach Kristen Holt. “They were easy shots. We just went into this mode where we were pushing it, and that’s what we like to do. But we don’t want to push it with the idea that we will shoot any open shot.”
Despite shooting 2-for-21 from inside the three-point line in the first half, Colorado State’s offense connected on 44.4 percent (4-for-9) from long range, and 70 percent (7-for-10) from the free-throw line to keep the game within reach.
“Kandy did a nice job shooting the ball and we need her to do that,” added Holt. “I thought her floor game could have been better and we need that leadership coming from her. She’s our captain, and she’s a senior and we need our other seniors to step up. They just have to be able to make layups, make easy shots. That’s leadership.”
A Beemer trey at 5:46 sparked a 9-2 Rams run that cut the DU lead to 27-23, with 2:37 before halftime. DU’s Jenny Vaughan responded by knocking down a three-pointer of her own and a Britteni Rice layup with 46 seconds left on the clock sent the Rams to the locker room trailing 32-23.
CSU’s overall offensive production improved in the second half. The team shot 42.3 percent from the field, and continued to shoot a high percentage (4-for-8) from three-point range. However, the Pioneers, led by Rice and Vaughan, answered the call every time the Rams crept to within striking distance. Rice led Denver with a game-high 19 points, 12 in the second half, on 7-for-12 shooting (2-for-4, three-pointers) in 33 minutes of action. Vaughan added 15 points, nine of which came in the second half, on 5-for-7 shooting, all from three-point range.
Van Grinsven finished as the Rams’ second-leading scorer with eight points. She also tied senior forward Carine Reimink for the team lead with six rebounds, one shy of DU’s Sara Bents’ game-high total.
The Rams will try to get back into the win column Saturday, when they host rival Northern Colorado at 2 p.m. at Moby Arena. The Rams will be hosting their annual “Pack the House” event, and any fan wearing green will receive a coupon for $1 admission to the game.
