Colorado State University Athletics
Saturday, January 18
Fort Collins, CO
2 PM MT
Colorado State
9-9,3-4Mountain
60
vs
40
Air Force
4-14,2-5Mountai
1
2
3
4
F
Air Force
5
8
12
15
40
Colorado State
23
6
12
19
60
Rams Stifle Falcons, 60-40
1/18/2020 4:41:00 PM | Women's Basketball
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – With a dazzling offensive performance in the first 10 minutes, Colorado State's women were off to a flying start.
The thing is, that's been the norm. Since the Mountain West hit the restart button on conference play, the Rams' basketball team has held leads in all four games at the break. Then the third quarter hits.
Hard.
"Our third quarters have been awful, to be honest with you," head coach Ryun Williams said. "Defensively, really all night tonight, it was hard for them to just get on any runs and gain a lot of momentum offensively. The defense, it stayed steady there in the third quarter, then some shot making."
That was the difference. Colorado State's offense has ridden an E-ticket roller coaster all season, but for 40 minutes Saturday at Moby Arena, the Rams made life hard offensively for the Falcons in a 60-40 victory. The Rams didn't necessarily pull away in the second half, but they never really gave up any ground.
Air Force missed all 13 treys it took, shooting just 28.8 percent in the game, and the best run they could muster was six points. That's not going to get it done. Not even when Colorado State turned over the ball nine times in the second quarter.
As Jamie Bonnarens put it: "You can screw up once, but you can't screw up twice."
"We really take pride in our defense, and our coaches do a great job of informing us on what we need to do," she said. "If we just execute the plan they give us every time, it will be very hard for them to score."
The victory was key, moving the team to 3-4 in conference play, 9-9 overall, as they snapped a two-game skid before hitting the road Wednesday to face Fresno State.
There was no difficulty for the Rams in the first 10 minutes, as Mackenzie Ellis came out hot from the tip. She did damage inside and out, did so off clean passes from teammates and creating her own looks off the dribble. She scored nine of her game-best 18 in the opening frame, closing with eight rebounds to lead the squad. She was perfect on a trio of 3-point attempts, making 7-of-11 from the field overall.
At one point, the Rams made eight consecutive shots from the field and closed the quarter on a 15-1 run, good for a 23-5 lead.
"It's awesome," Ellis said. "I think coming off some really tough losses we knew it was really important to come out this game really hard, and I think it really did show in that first quarter, coming out really strong, really confident, a lot of conviction, and I think that really got us going."
The offense from Bonnarens was steady as she reached 13 points in the game, making a trio of trifectas and adding a pair of assists.
There were struggles after the first quarter as the Falcons started applying more pressure, doubling on the sides, on the baseline and collapsing when the ball went into the paint. The Rams never really regained a true offensive flow until the fourth, when they put 19 more on the board.
Still, defense carried them through some tough times, and even a problematic third quarter.
"I think we all kind of noticed that, and we addressed it in the locker room," Bonnarens said. "Third quarters have kind of been our downfall, so we got out there and really focused on our warm up, game shots and getting our bodies ready for the third quarter."
Williams stuck to his guns all night, with all five starters playing at least 28 minutes, the bench combining for just 33. As of late, they've been who he has trusted and who has matched up better with what the Rams are seeing on the floor, but the one player who can start really shaving off some of those minutes is Lore Devos.
She's played in the past three game since injuring her knee in the opener, with Williams trying to stretch her out. She is, in his words, the Rams' "Swiss Army Knife," so her return to form is crucial, but patience has to be applied.
"Each game she's done a little more, but there's also challenges in each of these games," Williams said. "I think the burst is improving each and every game; you can see it on film. Lore is the one, because before Lore got hurt, she was our best player. If we get our best player back, and it might not be for a while that she's fully, fully back, then we're going to be a much better basketball team."
Next, the Rams will travel to Fresno State for a Wednesday 7 p.m. PT tip.
Notes
- The Rams held Air Force to its lowest point total at the half and for the full game
- Colorado State's defense kept AFA under 10 points in a quarter twice, marking the 12th and 13th time it has done so this season against an opponent
- After going into the fourth quarter tied in rebounds at 32-all, CSU was +5 in the category in the final frame
- CSU's 14 steals tied for the second most this season
For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball
The thing is, that's been the norm. Since the Mountain West hit the restart button on conference play, the Rams' basketball team has held leads in all four games at the break. Then the third quarter hits.
Hard.
"Our third quarters have been awful, to be honest with you," head coach Ryun Williams said. "Defensively, really all night tonight, it was hard for them to just get on any runs and gain a lot of momentum offensively. The defense, it stayed steady there in the third quarter, then some shot making."
That was the difference. Colorado State's offense has ridden an E-ticket roller coaster all season, but for 40 minutes Saturday at Moby Arena, the Rams made life hard offensively for the Falcons in a 60-40 victory. The Rams didn't necessarily pull away in the second half, but they never really gave up any ground.
Air Force missed all 13 treys it took, shooting just 28.8 percent in the game, and the best run they could muster was six points. That's not going to get it done. Not even when Colorado State turned over the ball nine times in the second quarter.
As Jamie Bonnarens put it: "You can screw up once, but you can't screw up twice."
"We really take pride in our defense, and our coaches do a great job of informing us on what we need to do," she said. "If we just execute the plan they give us every time, it will be very hard for them to score."
The victory was key, moving the team to 3-4 in conference play, 9-9 overall, as they snapped a two-game skid before hitting the road Wednesday to face Fresno State.
There was no difficulty for the Rams in the first 10 minutes, as Mackenzie Ellis came out hot from the tip. She did damage inside and out, did so off clean passes from teammates and creating her own looks off the dribble. She scored nine of her game-best 18 in the opening frame, closing with eight rebounds to lead the squad. She was perfect on a trio of 3-point attempts, making 7-of-11 from the field overall.
At one point, the Rams made eight consecutive shots from the field and closed the quarter on a 15-1 run, good for a 23-5 lead.
"It's awesome," Ellis said. "I think coming off some really tough losses we knew it was really important to come out this game really hard, and I think it really did show in that first quarter, coming out really strong, really confident, a lot of conviction, and I think that really got us going."
The offense from Bonnarens was steady as she reached 13 points in the game, making a trio of trifectas and adding a pair of assists.
There were struggles after the first quarter as the Falcons started applying more pressure, doubling on the sides, on the baseline and collapsing when the ball went into the paint. The Rams never really regained a true offensive flow until the fourth, when they put 19 more on the board.
Still, defense carried them through some tough times, and even a problematic third quarter.
"I think we all kind of noticed that, and we addressed it in the locker room," Bonnarens said. "Third quarters have kind of been our downfall, so we got out there and really focused on our warm up, game shots and getting our bodies ready for the third quarter."
Williams stuck to his guns all night, with all five starters playing at least 28 minutes, the bench combining for just 33. As of late, they've been who he has trusted and who has matched up better with what the Rams are seeing on the floor, but the one player who can start really shaving off some of those minutes is Lore Devos.
She's played in the past three game since injuring her knee in the opener, with Williams trying to stretch her out. She is, in his words, the Rams' "Swiss Army Knife," so her return to form is crucial, but patience has to be applied.
"Each game she's done a little more, but there's also challenges in each of these games," Williams said. "I think the burst is improving each and every game; you can see it on film. Lore is the one, because before Lore got hurt, she was our best player. If we get our best player back, and it might not be for a while that she's fully, fully back, then we're going to be a much better basketball team."
Next, the Rams will travel to Fresno State for a Wednesday 7 p.m. PT tip.
Notes
- The Rams held Air Force to its lowest point total at the half and for the full game
- Colorado State's defense kept AFA under 10 points in a quarter twice, marking the 12th and 13th time it has done so this season against an opponent
- After going into the fourth quarter tied in rebounds at 32-all, CSU was +5 in the category in the final frame
- CSU's 14 steals tied for the second most this season
For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball
Team Stats
USAFA
CSU
FG%
.288
.480
3FG%
.000
.435
FT%
.750
1.000
RB
32
37
TO
18
19
STL
14
6
Game Leaders
Pts
19
FGM
7
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G/F
/ Women's Basketball
G
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