Defense Not Enough for Rams in 58-53 Loss to Spartans

Calendar

Show:/

Oct 18

TBA

Women's Basketball

vs South Dakota (Exh.)

Oct 29

6:30 pm

Women's Basketball

vs Colorado Christian (Exh.)

Nov 4

6:00 pm

Women's Basketball

vs Weber State

Nov 9

1:00 pm

Women's Basketball

vs Long Beach State

Nov 13

TBA

Women's Basketball

at Gonzaga

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Ryun Williams is not unlike most basketball coaches.

He preaches defense, and his Colorado State women's basketball team delivered at Moby Arena on Saturday afternoon. But nothing will alter a coach's mood with more velocity than the way their team shoots the basketball.

The first 16 minutes of the first half against San Jose State was pure elation for him, but walking off the court with a 31-22 lead, the inside of the volcano was heating up. By the end of the game, he'd erupted more than once as the Rams' shooting woes opened the door for the Spartans' 58-53 victory, dropping CSU to 2-3 in Mountain West play, 8-8 overall.

They had a chance to gain ground on a leader, but the Rams could not hit the mark.

"To hold that team to that number on the scoreboard is an impressive effort by our kids, but there's another end of the floor," Williams said, "and we didn't get it done there."

The loss comes on a night when Annie Brady set the program record with 23 rebounds in the contest, 10 on the offensive end. The total is the second best by a Ram on the offensive glass, but it also proved Williams' point.

In the Rams' final possession, Megan Jacobs put up a runner, and Brady pulled down the miss. Then she grabbed the rebound off her putback, then missed the final shot. She had a double-double – her fourth of the season – but the 10 points she had at half is where she finished.

A bittersweet record for the senior who was as frustrated as anyone, capped off by the final possession.

"I can rebound the ball, but I wasn't finishing it," Brady said. "I have that job as well, and I didn't get it done.

"I wanted to make them for the team. I kinda felt like I let the team down a little bit; that's my job is to finish. Yeah, it's frustrating, but it's early on in conference and we have a lot of games left."

It wasn't a solo show, by any means. When the Spartans went on a 15-2 run in the third to take the lead, the Rams answered back with an 8-0 to go back in front. It was fueled by successive Tori Williams' 3-pointers, but to start the fourth, the guard missed four in a row.

Overall, the Rams shot just 29.9 percent in the game, just 12.5 percent in the final stanza. They hit just four of 27 3-point attempts and were 5-of-9 from the free-throw line in the final 10 minutes.

"I mean, I have a shooter's mentality, so if it doesn't go in, I'm going to keep shooting regardless," said Tori Williams, who finished with 11 points and five assists. "I think our shots just weren't falling, and we needed to start getting it into the paint more towards the end of the game."

Mackenzie Ellis continued her recent run, scoring a team-leading 20 points, finishing in double figures for the fifth consecutive game. She shot the ball well (8-of-16 from the floor), but she was the lone Ram who could make the claim, and San Jose State made it tougher for CSU to get the ball inside in the second half, switching from a zone to man defense.

San Jose State big Tyra Whitehead was in foul trouble throughout, which didn't hurt the Rams' plan. In the second half, the Spartans were fueled by the driving of Raziya Potter (19 points) and the conference's leading scorer, Ayzhiana Basallo.

Basallo is just 5-foot-5, but her skills with the ball and her ability to change gears and switch directions at will make her tough to defend, and she scored 21 of her 26 points in the final two frames.

The finish was a downer for the Rams across multiple channels. There was Brady's record, but also the return of Lore Devos to the lineup. She went down with a knee injury in the opener, but returned for the first time since, seeing nearly 10 minutes of action.

"It's just nice to get Lore in the game, and get those game feels going, letting her play in traffic," Ryun Williams said. "She has to learn that I can trust this thing and not be so cautious on it. But it's great to just have her back. With each practice, with each game, she'll gain more confidence and more trust in that thing, and we'll be a better basketball team, because Lore is a heck of a basketball player."

The loss also meant a chance to gain ground on the conference leaders. San Jose entered at 4-1 in league play (now 11-6 overall), the single loss to 5-0 Fresno State. The Rams had a chance to jump up and make an impact at home and holding a team which averages nearly 80 points a game to just 58 gave them a chance.

There was just that one area, and it's the one which will cause more internal strife for a coach than any other.

"Absolutely. I mean, especially when … I don't know," Ryun Williams started. "When you're executing and you're getting what you should be getting, it's just a tough one, because we did so many good things.

"It comes down to making baskets y'all. The Rams have to get better there."

The Rams take to the road next as they go to New Mexico for a tipoff scheduled for Wednesday Jan. 15 at 7 p.m.

Notes
- Andrea Brady's 20+ rebound performance was the most since Ellen Nystrom collected 20 on 3/10/15 against San Jose State.
- After getting injured in the season opener and missing the next 14 games, Lore Devos returned to the floor and played 9:34 minutes.
- The Rams forced the Spartans into 17 turnovers and scored a dozen off of them.
- CSU was 4-for-5 from the free throw line at the end of the third quarter and after going 5-for-9 in the fourth quarter, wound up at 9-for-15.
- CSU's defense held SJSU, the Mountain West's top scoring offense, to its lowest scoring output of the conference season and second-lowest overall on the season
- Makenzie Ellis dropped a team-high 20 points 61 points in the past three games.

For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results