Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
8-1
Montana
5-3
Women's Basketball Recap: Second quarter keys rout over Montana
12/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Athletics Communications
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Colorado State Rams improved to 8-1, and 5-0 at home, with a thoroughly impressive 75-43 rout over the Montana Lady Griz (5-3) at Moby Arena on Thursday night.
The Lady Griz, who were selected to defend their Big Sky title this season, started the game strong with a 3-pointer just eight seconds into the contest. Montana contained CSU for the first three minutes, but upon gaining the lead 3:25 into the contest, CSU never looked back.
The Rams were led by junior guard Ellen Nystrom, who scored a team-high 15 points to go along with eight rebounds and five assists. She was joined in double-figures by senior guard Keyora Wharry with 12 points, and junior forward Elin Gustavsson with 11 points.
After the first quarter, CSU had a 15-12 lead. But, just as they have done all season, the Rams put their stamp on the game in the second quarter. Led by Wharry, who had eight points in the second quarter, CSU started on a 16-2 run, and finished the quarter with a 26-8 advantage to take a commanding 41-20 lead into the halftime. It marked the sixth time in nine games that the Rams had held their opponent to single digits in the second quarter, and the 11th quarter overall.
The start of the second half was just as the end of the first half, with CSU jumping all over Montana and causing havoc with its length on defense. The Lady Griz came into the game ranking third nationally in fewest turnovers, averaging 11.3 per game. Against the Rams, however, Montana committed 16 turnovers which the Rams converted into 16 points. On the day, Montana shot just 23.1 percent, well below its season average of 40.1 percent.
At 8-1, the Rams are just the sixth team in school history to begin a season with at least eight of their first nine games. CSU is also now 5-0 at home this year and has won 20-consecutive regular-season games at home.
IN THEIR WORDS…
“I was really impressed with the effort and the execution by our kids for 40 minutes. I have a lot of respect for Montana, but our kids were ready to play.” – CSU Head Coach Ryun Williams
“We thought Tuesday night against Northern Colorado was a pretty complete effort. We guarded well and had pretty good offense for 40 minutes, but you could tell we were getting close and our kids were hungry to put it together. Everybody was locked in, and we played really well together.” – CSU Head Coach Ryun Williams
“I think we were really well prepared. We’ve played good teams before them, like CU and BYU, so we were just ready to play.” – Senior forward Alana Arias
“We have good passers and we like to take advantage of our length, so we like to play inside-out. We just did a good job performing our job on the court.” – Senior forward Alana Arias
STAT OF THE GAME…
• CSU’s second-quarter dominance continued with a 26-8 second quarter over Montana. The Rams are now outscoring their opponents 148-76 in the second quarter.
NOTES…
• Junior guard Ellen Nystrom led the Rams with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists. In the two games this week, Nystrom is averaging 12.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game.
• CSU came into the contest with the No. 10 scoring defense, allowing just 50.1 points per game. Tonight, Montana was held well below its season average with 53 points.
• Montana shot just 23.1 percent from the field, and 1-of-13 from 3-point range.
• After sitting most of the first quarter due to back-to-back turnovers, Keyora Wharry responded in the second quarter with eight points on 4-of-4 shooting.
• For the second time this year, CSU played all 14 girls on its active roster.
• Senior forward Alana Arias led the Rams off the bench with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. In total, CSU’s bench produced 29 points.
NEXT UP…
Colorado State stays at home to host Oklahoma Panhandle State on Sunday at 2 p.m. MT. The game will be televised on the Mountain West Network at CSURams.com/videos. Fans can also follow along on twitter at @CSUWomensBBall and @CSURamsGameday.
