Colorado State University Athletics
Game notes: CSU travels to Vegas
1/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2010
Colorado State (9-7, 1-2) is on the road to face UNLV (8-10, 1-3) Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. MT at the Cox Pavilion (2,500).
UNLV picked up its first win in conference play over Utah Saturday, snapping the Utes 19-game home win streak at the Huntsman center. Junior guard Erica Helms was the point leader with 19 and sophomore forward Jamie Smith grabbed 10 rebounds.
The Rebels are 1-3 in conference play with losses to BYU, New Mexico and San Diego State. UNLV is 3-7 at home this season. The team records 38.0 rebounds per game, 4.7 less than their oppponents.
The game will be broadcast live on AM 1410 KIIX. Brian Roth calls the action and Matt Wozniak provides the color analysis. Live game audio will also be available via Rams All-Access subscription on CSURams.com.
Rams vs. Rebels series...
Saturday's meeting between Colorado State and UNLV marks the 31st overall game between the two schools.
CSU holds a 17-13 advantage in the all-time series, with a 8-8 mark in Las Vegas. The Rams have won the last three matchups vs. the Rebels after UNLV snapped seven-game win streak in March of 2008.
Last meeting...
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.
The win snapped 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.
About UNLV...
Erica Helms and freshman guard Kelli Thompson lead the Rebels in scoring with 13.7 and 12.5 points per game, respectively. Jamie Smith pulls down the most rebounds with 9.2 per game, good for second place in the Mountain West.
Since conference play began, the Rebels are third in the conference in free-throw percentage, shooting 71.2 percent (52-73) from the line.
Prior to the win over Utah, UNLV had been on a four-game skid including a non-conference loss at Utah State.
Last time out... Colorado State, down by double figures late in the second half, used a 6-0 run in the final minutes to close the gap to five, 63-58. But four BYU free throws over the final 29 seconds sealed the game, giving BYU the edge over CSU Saturday afternoon, 67-58.
The Rams (9-7, 1-2 MWC) opened the game hot, connecting on their first three shots, all three-pointers, during the first minute and 46 seconds. But the 9-0 lead would fade quickly as the BYU defense forced 11 turnovers over the next 7 minutes. The Cougars' first 13 points all came off of turnovers, and a 13-4 run tied the score at 13-13 with 13:08 to play in the first half. Moments later BYU would score again to take a 17-15 lead and never trailed the remainder of the contest.
CSU trailed 38-25 at the intermission and by as many as 19 in the game. The Rams, though, would chip away to make it a nine-point game, 63-54, with 2:23 remaining, and a layup by Chatilla van Grinsven on the ensuing possession would cut the deficit to seven with under 2 minutes to play. After a missed BYU layup, sophomore Kim Mestdagh connected on a jumper with 54.3 seconds remaining.
CSU shot an impressive 46.9 percent (23-of-49) from the floor, but also allowed BYU to shoot 50 percent (8-of-16) from three-point range. After making their first three three-point attempts, the Rams shot 1-of-12 the rest of the game against the Cougars, who rank No. 27 nationally in three-point defense.
Rebounding extremes...
Colorado State ranks second in the Mountain West in defensive rebounds with 433 this season, 13 behind first-place Utah. The team is averaging 27.1 per game. The Rams rank fifth in the conference in offensive rebounds, pulling down an average of 12.8 offensive boards per game. The Rams are 7-2 this season when outrebounding their opponents.
Building a program of excellence...
The Rams, now 9-7, are sitting in seventh place in the Mountain West Conference. Last season, the Rams didn't pick up their ninth win until Feb. 21 in the second half of conference play vs. Air Force, and in 2007-08, CSU won only four all season.
From the line...
Junior guard Zoi Simmons is first in the conference in free-throw percentage .842. In the Rams' final non-conference game this season vs. South Dakota, Simmons hit six free throws in the final minute, when the Rams were clinging to a one-point lead and had not made a field goal since the 6:49 mark, to ice the win. She was 8-8 on the afternoon.
Heimstra well-balanced...
In 16 games this season sophomore forward Meghan Heimstra has scored a total of 145 points and has 141 rebounds. She leads the team in rebounds per game with 8.8 and is the third-best in points with 9.1 per game. Defensively, the sophomore averages 6.1 boards per game, which puts her tied for first place in the conference. Heimstra has four double-doubles this season, tied for third-best in the conference, and she recorded a career-high 14 rebounds in the Jan. 5 vs. Wyoming.
Mestdagh sets record highs...
Sophomore Kim Mestdagh leads the Mountain West in both scoring and three-point field goals made. In 16 games this season, Mestdagh has 266 points, averaging 16.6 per game. She has hit 51 three pointers averaging 3.2 per game above second-place Amy Beggin of New Mexico who has 40 beyond the arc.
In the Rams matchup vs. South Dakota on Jan. 2, Mestdagh recorded six steals, a career-high, season team-high, and it ties for first in the conference this season.
Mestdagh's 30 points Dec. 6 vs. Southern Illinois were the most by a CSU player in 40-minute regulation game since Becky Hammon poured in 30, March 14, 1999, to lead the Rams to an 86-70 win over Southwest Missouri State in the second round of the NCAA tournament, in front of 8,741 Moby Arena fans. Sara Hunter had 41 in a 101-96 overtime loss vs. San Francisco on Nov. 13, 2007. Hammon scored 30 or more in eight games that season.
Rams seeing double...
Since the start of the season, eight Rams have scored double figures in at least one game. Sophomore Kim Mestdagh leads the pack with 14 games, followed by sophomore Chatilla van Grinsven with nine games total and six consecutive. Junior Bonnie Barbee has seven double-figure scores. Meghan Heimstra has seven, Natalie van den Adel has three and juniors Zoi Simmons and Erin Cooke have one. Meixandra Porter just recorded her frist double-digit game with 11 points, a career high vs. Wyoming on Jan. 5.
Additional TV matchup...
The Colorado State women's basketball contest at BYU in Provo, Utah, on Feb. 17 will be televised on BYU-TV live at 7 p.m. MT and then re-aired on The Mtn. Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. MT.
This marks the fourth game the Rams will be televised this season, not including the Mountain West Conference championships in March.
Rams TV games...
- 1/05/10 vs. Wyoming (The Mtn.) 6 p.m. (live)
- 1/27/10 at TCU (The Mtn.) 5:30 p.m. (tape delay)
- 2/09/10 vs. Air Force (The Mtn.) 6 p.m. (live)
- 2/17/10 at BYU 7 p.m. (live BYU-TV; tape delay The Mtn.)
Coors Light Coaches' Show...
The Coors Light Basketball Coaches' Show airs Mondays at 7 p.m. MT, live from the Stonehouse Grille in Old Town Fort Collins, and will continue throughout the season until March 1. Shows air live on the Colorado State Sports Network's Flagship, KLZ (560 AM). A complete schedule can be found on the bottom of Page 4 of this release.
Up next...
Colorado State is home vs. fifth-place New Mexico Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. MT at Moby Arena.
