Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State visits Montana
12/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Colorado State (2-5) at Montana (5-2)
Dec. 10, 2008 | Missoula, Mont. | Dahlberg Arena (7,500) | 7 p.m. MT
Colorado State visits Montana...
Colorado State, coming off of a 62-47 victory over in-state rival Northern Colorado, heads out on the road for the first time since Nov. 19, to face the University of Montana. The Rams and the Lady Griz are slated to tip off at 7 p.m. MT on Wednesday from Dahlber Arena (7,500) in Missoula, Mont.
Montana enters the contest with a 5-2 record behind the guidance of Robin Selvig, one of the winningest basketball coaches in NCAA Division I history. The Lady Griz are riding a two-game winning streak into Wednesday’s matchup, having picked up victories at Oregon (60-52) and vs. Boise State (72-51) last week.
The Rams are 2-5 on the season and looking to build on the momentum of their win over the UNC Bears. CSU is coming off of a five-game homestand in which the team posted a 2-3 record.
The game will be broadcast live on AM 1410 KIIX. Brian Roth, in his eighth season behind the mic for the Rams, calls all the action. Live game audio will also be available via Rams All-Access subscription on CSURams.com.
Live statistics are available on MontanaGrizzlies.com and a streaming video feed is available free of charge on BigSkyTV.org.
Rams vs. Lady Griz series...
Saturday’s meeting between Colorado State and Montana marks the sixth game between the two schools since the series began in 1979.
Colorado State has won two straight in the series, including a 65-53 victory in the last meeting between the two clubs in Missoula, Mont. in 2005.
The series...
12/29/79, W, 72-66 (ot) in Bozeman
01/06/84, L, 46-68 in Missoula
12/19/85, L, 50-79 in Fort Collins
01/03/87, L, 46-70 in Missoula
01/06/04, W, 60-45 in Fort Collins
01/05/05, W, 65-53 in Missoula
More about Montana...
Montana enters Wednesday’s game against Colorado State with an overall record of 5-2 to start the season, behind the guidance of head coach Robin Selvig, who recently won his 700th career game (ninth all-time in NCAA Division I history) and holds a 702-201 mark in 31 seasons at Montana.
The Bears return nine players, including four starters from last season’s team that posted a 25-7 mark (13-3 Big Sky), and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Vanderbilt.
Senior guards Mandy Morales and Sonya Rogers lead the Lady Griz on the court. Morales averages 16.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while recording team bests with 24 assists and 16 steals in seven contests. Rogers is second on the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game.
Forwards Britney Lohman and Lauren Beck rank as the top rebounders on the team, pulling down 6.4 rebounds per game.
Last time out...
Freshman forward Chatilla van Grinsven tallied a career-high 18 points, senior forward Amaka Uzomah tied a personal best with 18 rebounds, and junior forward Juanise Cornell posted a double-double to lead Colorado State to a 62-47 victory over in-state rival Northern Colorado on Saturday.
The two teams battled to a halftime tie, but a strong second half by the Rams front court of van Grinsven, Uzomah and Cornell, proved too much for the Bears, and the momentum swung decidedly in the Rams’ favor over the final 16 minutes of the contest.
With CSU trailing 34-28 at the 16:52 mark of the second half, van Grinsven scored 11 points as part of a larger 22-8 CSU run that gave the Rams a 50-42 advantage with fewer than 9 minutes remaining in the game.
Uzomah dominated the glass in the second half, pulling down 14 of her 18 rebounds, while Cornell added six points and six rebounds after halftime, en route to her first double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) of the season.
The Rams allowed just one UNC field goal over the final 9:53, and closed out the game with on a 9-0 over the final 4 minutes to seal the victory.
Closing in on 500...
Junior forward Juanise Cornell is nearly halfway to becoming the 15th player in Colorado State women’s basketball history to reach 1,000 career points. Cornell, who has started 64 of 66 career games played at Colorado State, enters action this week with 495 career points.
Cornell has nearly as many career points as the next three players - Britney Minor (236), Kandy Beemer (205) and Carine Reimink (152) - on the active roster combined. Minor, Beemer and Reimink, all seniors, are in just their second seasons with the Rams, having joined the team has junior college transfers last year.
Cornell is also the Rams’ active leader in career rebounds, and is rapidly closing in on 500 boards as well. Heading into Wednesday’s game at Montana, Cornell has 447 career rebounds, just eight rebounds shy of the CSU career top-20 list. Her 6.8 rebounds per game average ranks ninth on the Rams’ career list.
Beeming from long distance...
Senior captain Kandy Beemer ranks as one of the top three-point threats in CSU history. With 56 career treys, Beemer is 17th on the CSU career list, while her .352 shooting percentage from long range is 12th in the Rams’ record books. Beemer has connected on at least one three-pointer in each of the Rams’ games this season, including four games in which she has connected on at least three shots from downtown. Beemer currently ranks fourth in the Mountain West Conference in three-pointers made per game (2.43), which is good enough for 60th in the nation.
Fantastic frosh...
Freshman Chatilla van Grinsven, with just three collegiate games to her credit, has emerged as a key contributor for the Rams. The 6-2 forward led the Rams to victory over UNC on Saturday with 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting, and currently ranks as the team’s top scorer (10.7 ppg.) and third-leading rebounder (5.3 rpg.). Van Grinsven’s 80 percent clip vs. UNC is tied for second all-time by a CSU freshman in a single-game, matching former standout Lindsay Thomas, who hit 8-for-10 from the field at Michigan (12/1/05) in her first season. Only Rams great Katie Cronin posted a better single-game shooting performance as a freshman. Cronin hit 10-of-12 field goal attempts for the Rams against Nevada on Dec. 2, 2005.
Rebounding Ram...
Senior forward Amaka Uzomah tied a career-high mark with 18 rebounds in the Rams victory over Northern Colorado. Uzomah, who set the mark last season vs. Wyoming, has recorded 13 double-digit rebounding performance in just 29 career games at CSU. She has recorded five or more rebounds in 20 of her last 24 games.
Home sweet home...
Saturdays home victory over UNC improved the Rams home record to 289-169 (631) all-time at Moby Arena.
Mestdagh becoming a regular...
Freshman guard Kim Mestdagh has become a regular on the court for the Rams, and has started three straight games for the Rams since being inserted into the starting lineup for an injured Juanise Cornell on Nov. 29. In her three starts, Mestdagh is averaging 9.3 points, 2.0 steals and 1.7 rebounds per game. Mestdagh, a native of Ieper, Belgium, has also connected on 33.3 percent (5-for-15) from 3-point range during that span.
Change in Air Force game time...
Colorado State’s Feb. 21 home game against the Air Force Falcons has been moved to a 7 p.m. tip time to accommodate for a time change in the Colorado State at Air Force men’s game also scheduled for that day at Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. The men’s game, originally slated for 7 p.m. was moved so as not to conflict with an Air Force hockey game, and the women’s game was moved to accommodate television broadcasts for both games, which will air live on The Mtn. The men’s game will now tip at 4 p.m.
Up next...
The Rams return to Moby Arena to face the Northern Iowa Panthers on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 12 noon and fans 18 and under will receive $1 admission to the game.