Offense Lights Up Moby to Defeat Aztecs, 86-77

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Offensively, the confidence is just different.

A lot different.

Colorado State women's basketball coach Ryun Williams watched his team struggle offensively – defensively, too – the first three quarters of Tuesday's game with San Diego State at Moby Arena. A year ago, he most likely wouldn't have had any confidence.

The players either.

"If we played this game last year, I think we would have fought really hard, but I don't think we could have come back like this," Lore Devos said. "I really love this. This was great."

Down five to start the final stanza, Devos announced the Rams' intentions with a 3-pointer six seconds into the fourth, Tori Williams followed with another and by the time the smoke cleared, Colorado State had roasted the Aztecs with a 35-point output on the way to an 86-77 victory.

Devos played a large hand in the effort, posting career bests in both points (25) and rebounds (11), with Williams and McKenna Hofschild firing up in the fourth to help pace the comeback to push the team to 4-1 on the year, 2-1 in Mountain West play.

After starting the first four games, Coach Williams had the senior on the bench to start the contest. While there, she took notes and figured everybody should be driving to the basket. Which is what she did upon stepping on the floor, getting her nose bloodied at one point.

"That's big. We treat every game differently, and what lineup is going to give us the best opportunity to play good offensive basketball," Williams said. "Lore did a great job of driving their bigs tonight; we had an advantage there. The only thing we give up there is some rebounding, but we did a good enough job of staying small and play with that lineup which is difficult to defend, because of what Lore can do, and Sydney Mech."

The difference for Devos is she has her legs back. A year ago, she started with a knee injury and never really regained her form. Thursday, she was active not only going to the hoop, but had spring when nailing 4-of-5 3-pointers and grabbing rebounds, seven on the defensive glass.

She scored 13 in the second quarter, adding seven in the decisive fourth.

"I feel like a completely different person," she said, hitting 9-of-14 overall in the game. "It's great."

Offensively, the team has been on fire this season. Defensively, they're still catching up. Rebounding was an issue, entering with a plus-8.5 margin, exiting the night on the southern end of a 41-32 difference. It allowed the Aztecs to score 46 points in the paint as they pulled down 11 caroms off the offensive glass.

The Rams made up for it by taking care of the basketball, with a 15-9 edge in assists-to-turnovers, scoring 16 points off the miscues they forced and running to the tune of 16 fast-break points. That difference is all McKenna Hofschild.

The transfer point guard poured in 19 points, 11 coming in the fourth. She added seven assists, three in the final 10 minutes and never turned it over. But she also knows defense is where the Rams had to make a bigger difference, and the fourth quarter showed it's coming.

"I think we just locked in more, knowing what we need to do, knowing how to execute and really taking the defensive side seriously," Hofschild said. "That will translate into our offense, so I think we needed to lock in, and we did that in the fourth quarter.

"I think that's been a big focus in practice. The more we rep it, the better we're getting at it. I think it's going to take some time, but we're definitely improving on it."

A big part of the Rams' defensive focus was on SDSU guard Sophia Ramos, who was averaging 20 points in four games. The assignment of guarding her was given to true freshman Ellie Boni.

With the start of Mountain West play, Coach Williams has not given her a night off. Ramos scored 21, but it came on an 8-of-26 shooting night.

"I mean, Ellie's getting baptized right now. We stick her on Cavinder to start the year at Fresno for two nights, then she's got to come and guard Ramos, who is such a talented player," he said. "So, we keep challenging Ellie, and she keeps stepping up. I thought she did a tremendous job on Ramos, made some of those shots difficult."

The really telling sign of the night was what he told his team heading into the final frame.

To do what they do best. And he was talking offense.

Tori Williams also scored 11 in the fourth, hitting a pair of treys and finishing with 18 overall as the Rams shot 73.3 percent in the final period.

"He definitely told us it's time to go, it's time to pick it up, and I think as a team we knew this was our game," Hofschild said. "We just came out with confidence and did what we know we are capable of and got the win."

The teams will take a day to regroup, then meet back again at Moby Arena for a 1 p.m. tipoff on Thursday.

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