Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
1-1, 0-0
Colorado
1-0, 0-0
Women's basketball recap: CSU falls in late thriller
11/12/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 12, 2013
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In the 44th annual matchup between the Colorado State Rams and the No. 17 ranked Colorado Buffaloes, it was a hard-fought battle until the end, but the Buffaloes came out victorious with a 63-59 win over CSU at Moby Arena on Tuesday night.
Colorado improves to 1-0 on the year, while the Rams fall to 1-1.
"The kids battled. It maybe wasn't the cleanest game, but Colorado makes you play that way; they are pretty disruptive defensively," stated Head Coach Ryun Williams. "I'm quite encouraged by the will of this team and the fact that they just kept trying to find a way."
Late in the second half, Colorado State took the game by storm, going on a 13-1 run. With 48.0 seconds in the game, Colorado State trailed, 59-60, but had possession of the ball.
A turnover from freshman Ellen Nystrom gave CU the ball, and Colorado's Arielle Robertson knocked the ball out of bounds off of freshman Elin Gustavsson with 34.0 seconds left on the clock, and no timeouts remaining for either team. Sophomore Caitlin Duffy fouled CU's Jasmine Sborov, who made both of the one-and-one shots, and put the Buffalos ahead, 62-59.
When Colorado State gained possession again, Gustavsson went in for the lay-up, was blocked, and senior Alicia Nichols fouled Colorado's guard, Lexy Kresel, who missed the one-and-one free-throw. Senior Sam Martin then fouled CU's Brittany Wilson with 2.4 second on the clock, Wilson made the front end of the one-and-one, and the Colorado Buffalos claimed the game over the Rams, 63-59.
Before this point, Colorado's last points from the field were made with 6:56 left on the clock, when the Rams began a 13-1 point-run until the last seconds of the game, and their last points were made with 3:54 left in the game, with CU leading, 60-50.
"We got everybody clicking and playing the way they are capable of playing," stated Williams. "We got everybody within the flow and everybody played with some confidence when we went down by 13. We showed some courage and that is encouraging."
The Rams played a tremendously aggressive in the first half of the game as well, going into halftime down 27-33. At the half, Colorado State caused 10 Buffalo turnovers and CSU gained five points off of them. CSU outshot Colorado in the paint 16-10.
Starting in her second career game, Gustavsson put up 21 points against the Buffalos, while also adding five rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal. Martin added 10 points for the Rams, with an assist and a block each.
"Elie (Gustavsson) was really, really good tonight; she's very tough to handle," praised Williams.
Off of the bench for the Rams came Nichols who personally sparked six consecutive points for the Rams late in the second half of the game, while Duffy added 13 points, seven rebounds and a block, with a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line, two of which were from a technical foul that was called on Colorado's bench.
Nystrom added four points to the Rams total score, while juniors AJ Newton and Gritt Ryder added two points apiece.
In the last match-up against the Buffalos, Colorado State fell 72-46, shooting a .286 field-goal percentage, their second-lowest of the year. This year the Rams shot a .350 field-goal percentage, while CU shot .381 from the field, and showed tremendous overall improvement.
"We're not even playing our best basketball at all and we're still light years ahead of where we were this time last year," Duffy stated.
Colorado State gained 17 points off of second-chance shots, while Colorado only put up six second-chance points. The Rams also out-shot the Buffalos from the free-throw line with a .684 percentage, while the Buffs shot a .588 percentage.
"This group came together tonight, and I think they became a real team tonight," commended Williams.
Up next, Colorado State wraps up its season-opening homestand vs. Drake on Saturday. Tipoff vs. the Bulldogs is scheduled for 12 p.m. MT.
