Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
13-4, 5-1
Air Force
1-15, 0-6
Women's basketball recap: Rams soar past Air Force
1/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2014
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Colorado State women’s basketball team earned its 13th victory of the season at Clune Arena Saturday, with a dominant performance over the Falcons, 87-49.
The win for the Rams (13-4, 5-1 MW) matches the most road wins in 10 years at five. It also ties for most victories overall in two years, when the team finished 13-17. Head Coach Ryun Williams is now 24-23 in the midst of his second season at CSU, the first time he’s been over the .500 mark during his tenure with the Rams since November of 2012.
“I think our kids did a nice job of playing our motion,” commented Head Coach Ryun Williams. “We had some nice individual performances. Our kids made some really good reads. We got some stuff going inside with penetration. Sam (Martin) was really good inside today. We had a standard and a style of play that we wanted to try and get done for 40 minutes on the offensive end, and we did a good job today.”
Senior Sam Martin moved up the all-time scoring list at CSU Saturday afternoon with 17 points, shooting a perfect 7-7 on the day. She now ranks ninth with 1,371 career points. Her next obstacle is Heather Haanen (1997-01), who ranks eighth with 1,394 career points.
After a lot of back-and-forth action with Air Force (1-15, 0-6 MW) in the opening minutes, CSU jumped out to a 12-point lead on a 14-4 run midway through the first frame. The Rams built up more of a cushion, and extended their lead to 16 at halftime on a perfectly executed three-ball from junior Gritt Ryder on an in-bounds pass with 2.0 seconds on the clock.
With that trey as time expired Ryder was the first to double figures for Colorado State. She finished the afternoon with 11 points, sitting the bench early in the second half due to foul trouble. AJ Newton and Caitlin Duffy joined her with 13 and 11, respectively, combining for four converted baskets beyond the arc.
The freshmen Swedes were a dominant force on the glass all afternoon. Elin Gustavsson led the team with eight boards, while Ellen Nystrom followed closely behind with seven.
Colorado State is on a bye for the regular mid-week matchup Wednesday. The Rams will return to the court down in Albuquerque, N.M., next weekend on Jan. 25 at The Pit against the Lobos. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. MT.
