Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
8-16, 3-8MWC
UNLV
10-14, 3-8MWC
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNLV | 30 | 25 | 55 |
| Colorado State | 40 | 45 | 85 |
CSU women roll Lady Rebels, 85-55
2/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2009
Final Stats |
Photo Gallery 
By Danny Mattie
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Four players finished in double figures, paced by Bonnie Barbee’s career-high 19 points, as Colorado State (8-16, 3-8 MWC) rolled to an 85-55 victory over the UNLV Lady Rebels (10-14, 3-8 MWC) on Saturday afternoon in front of 1,069 fans at Moby Arena.
“I felt like this was a game that we certainly could win,” said Head Coach Kristen Holt following the victory. “I am still figuring this team out, but today we did it. It was huge for us to get this win at home. I couldn’t have scripted it any better.”
The win snaps a five-game skid for Colorado State, who had been unable to close out close contests with many of the top teams in the conference standings over the past three weeks, including last-second losses to San Diego State and BYU. It also marks CSU’s first home Mountain West Conference victory since Feb. 22, 2007, a 62-56 win over SDSU.
More importantly, the win, CSU’s third in MWC play, jumps the Rams from eighth in the MWC standings into a tie for sixth place with the Lady Rebels and rival Wyoming.
“I think this is huge as we go down this last stretch,” added Holt. “This is going to give us a huge amount of energy.”
Colorado State capitalized early on and trailed for only 29 seconds in the game, building a double-digit advantage just 5 minutes into the contest and never letting UNLV creep to within closer than 10 the rest of the game. CSU posted a dominating performance that saw the team hold an advantage in nearly every statistical category, including a 50-31 rebounding edge, while outshooting UNLV 47.8 percent to 25.9 percent for the game
Barbee paced all scorers in the contest with 19 points. The sophomore guard hit three of her career-high-tying four three-pointers during a key stretch in the game’s opening stanza. She anchored a 22-6 Rams run between the 16:58 and 9:27 marks of the first half that saw a one-point CSU deficit turn into an 18-point advantage.
The Rams held UNLV to just one field goal during that stretch, and despite closing the half on a 7-2 run of their own over the final 2:19, the Lady Rebels headed into the locker room trailing the Rams, 40-30.
Colorado State opened the second half on fire, pushing the lead beyond the 20-point mark, 54-32, just more than 6 minutes after the intermission. Once again, the CSU defense held UNLV to only one field goal during that stretch, and the Rams steadily pulled away for the remainder of the contest. The lead ballooned to 35 after an Alison Cheney jumper with 3:48 remaining, and Colorado State cruised to the blowout victory, its largest since a 75-40 win over Air Force on March 5, 2005.
Senior forward Britney Minor, sophomore guard Zoi Simmons and junior forward Juanise Cornell also finished in double-figure scoring for the Rams. Minor poured in 14 points and added a game-high nine rebounds. Simmons finished with 12 points and a team-best three assists, while Cornell chipped in with 10 points, marking her fourth consecutive double-digit outing, and her sixth in the Rams’ last seven contests. Freshmen Kim Mestdagh and Meghan Heimstra added nine and eight points, respectively, and classmate Chatilla van Grinsven pulled down a career-high eight rebounds to go along with four points.
“The reason that it’s so awesome that we won the way we did was because everyone got to play and everybody contributed,” said Holt. “The team morale right now is really good.”
UNLV’s Shamela Hampton added 18 points and five rebounds, but fouled out of the contest with 6:31 left to play. Jamie Smith added 12 points and seven rebounds for the Lady Rebels.
Colorado State will now look to carry over momentum of this victory, as the team prepares for a trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, where it will face off against the conference-leading Utah Utes on Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT from the Huntsman Center.
