Colorado State University Athletics
Wednesday, February 19
Fort Collins, CO
7 PM MT
Colorado State
12-14,6-9Mounta
60
vs
56
UNLV
12-14,8-7Mounta
1
2
3
4
F
UNLV
10
15
23
8
56
Colorado State
15
11
19
15
60
Rams Earn Gritty Win Over UNLV, 60-56
2/19/2020 9:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Colorado State goes on 11-run to dispatch the Lady Rebels, 60-56.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Dire straits.
Ryun Williams has taken that trip before. Basically, it's been his walk of life this Colorado State women's basketball season. Get a lead, give it up, lose the game.
Silly mistakes, the missteps which cost teams leverage in the Mountain West standings. And there the Rams were again, as visiting UNLV was threatening to skate away with a victory, taking a 56-49 lead with 3:30 remaining at Moby Arena. Even Williams had to admit, an Orange Out night was looking like another washout.
Deep in the recesses of his mind, he always wondered. He thought it was there, but his team hadn't shown the mentality. Not yet. Not until Wednesday, when the Rams became the sultans of swing and poured in the final 11 points for a 60-56 victory.
Williams has always hoped.
"Yeah. I mean, we've been asking for that. And I think you saw some kids really trying to make some winning plays late, and not just on the offensive end," Williams said as his team improved to 12-14, 6-9 in Mountain West play. "Liah Davis comes in there and gets a couple of big rebounds, and you could just see it was really important for Liah to get a stop. It was really important for Liah to keep the basketball in front of her on those switches. That's the mentality we're looking for."
As Williams spoke of Davis, each word was stressed, and his face was contorted. Finally, he saw his team take a major turn instead of going southbound again.
He was right. His players were starting to wonder the same thing, too.
"I feel like in past games we put ourselves in position to win, but the games fell short," Davis said. "I feel like we really had to show we have a chance to still stay in the game and follow through, and that's what we did tonight."
The Rams just refuse to make it easy on themselves. The offense was flatfooted in the first half, and throughout the entirety of the 40 minutes, they had a hard time keeping the Lady Rebels away from the offensive glass – they pulled down 17 which led to remarkably just 12 second-chance points.
There were turnovers, the last one an offensive foul with 6.9 seconds on the clock as the Rams were trying to inbound the ball and get back to the free-throw line. Instead, UNLV received another crack, but CSU's defense forced a wild 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
"We're better than that. I'm going to be honest," Williams said. "We're better than that, and I don't expect those negative plays to be made. [With] Their [UNLV] kids. It's going to happen. UNLV's pressure is going to cause some of that, but you've got to play through it, and our kids did that tonight."
Just another wild west end.
The last time the two teams met, the Rebels out-quicked the Rams, so Williams had Makenzie Ellis and Megan Jacobs bring the ball up the floor more than point guard Tori Williams. It kept the pace in the Rams' favor, they just had to make the plays down the stretch.
Credit is deserved for buckling down. Instead of letting UNLV continue to get so far away, the Rams came back with a puncher's mentality.
Devos hit a pair of buckets to pull the hosts within three, and that's when Tori Williams drilled a trey to tie the game at 56. With 1:12 on the clock, Jamie Bonnarens regained the lead for CSU in the paint, then as UNLV was forced to foul, Devos put the final touches on an 18-point night with a pair from the charity stripe.
Williams finished with 15 in the game, all from distance as she was 5-of-8 from behind the arc, tying a career best.
Devos loved the fight Davis showed to grab the board which led to a flurry of fouls and then her free throws. In fact, she loved everything about the ending, the normal trials and tribulations, but mostly the win.
A victory was needed, less they start to fade to black. A triumph like Wednesday's was powerful.
"I mean, we need more of that mentality, and mostly just making the right plays," Devos said. "Even today, we can still play better, but we had the mentality, and that's why we still won the game."
Because when it comes to you, it makes an impression.
The Rams are back in action Saturday at San Jose State for a 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT tip.
For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball
Ryun Williams has taken that trip before. Basically, it's been his walk of life this Colorado State women's basketball season. Get a lead, give it up, lose the game.
Silly mistakes, the missteps which cost teams leverage in the Mountain West standings. And there the Rams were again, as visiting UNLV was threatening to skate away with a victory, taking a 56-49 lead with 3:30 remaining at Moby Arena. Even Williams had to admit, an Orange Out night was looking like another washout.
Deep in the recesses of his mind, he always wondered. He thought it was there, but his team hadn't shown the mentality. Not yet. Not until Wednesday, when the Rams became the sultans of swing and poured in the final 11 points for a 60-56 victory.
Williams has always hoped.
"Yeah. I mean, we've been asking for that. And I think you saw some kids really trying to make some winning plays late, and not just on the offensive end," Williams said as his team improved to 12-14, 6-9 in Mountain West play. "Liah Davis comes in there and gets a couple of big rebounds, and you could just see it was really important for Liah to get a stop. It was really important for Liah to keep the basketball in front of her on those switches. That's the mentality we're looking for."
As Williams spoke of Davis, each word was stressed, and his face was contorted. Finally, he saw his team take a major turn instead of going southbound again.
He was right. His players were starting to wonder the same thing, too.
"I feel like in past games we put ourselves in position to win, but the games fell short," Davis said. "I feel like we really had to show we have a chance to still stay in the game and follow through, and that's what we did tonight."
The Rams just refuse to make it easy on themselves. The offense was flatfooted in the first half, and throughout the entirety of the 40 minutes, they had a hard time keeping the Lady Rebels away from the offensive glass – they pulled down 17 which led to remarkably just 12 second-chance points.
There were turnovers, the last one an offensive foul with 6.9 seconds on the clock as the Rams were trying to inbound the ball and get back to the free-throw line. Instead, UNLV received another crack, but CSU's defense forced a wild 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
"We're better than that. I'm going to be honest," Williams said. "We're better than that, and I don't expect those negative plays to be made. [With] Their [UNLV] kids. It's going to happen. UNLV's pressure is going to cause some of that, but you've got to play through it, and our kids did that tonight."
Just another wild west end.
The last time the two teams met, the Rebels out-quicked the Rams, so Williams had Makenzie Ellis and Megan Jacobs bring the ball up the floor more than point guard Tori Williams. It kept the pace in the Rams' favor, they just had to make the plays down the stretch.
Credit is deserved for buckling down. Instead of letting UNLV continue to get so far away, the Rams came back with a puncher's mentality.
Devos hit a pair of buckets to pull the hosts within three, and that's when Tori Williams drilled a trey to tie the game at 56. With 1:12 on the clock, Jamie Bonnarens regained the lead for CSU in the paint, then as UNLV was forced to foul, Devos put the final touches on an 18-point night with a pair from the charity stripe.
Williams finished with 15 in the game, all from distance as she was 5-of-8 from behind the arc, tying a career best.
Devos loved the fight Davis showed to grab the board which led to a flurry of fouls and then her free throws. In fact, she loved everything about the ending, the normal trials and tribulations, but mostly the win.
A victory was needed, less they start to fade to black. A triumph like Wednesday's was powerful.
"I mean, we need more of that mentality, and mostly just making the right plays," Devos said. "Even today, we can still play better, but we had the mentality, and that's why we still won the game."
Because when it comes to you, it makes an impression.
The Rams are back in action Saturday at San Jose State for a 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT tip.
For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball
Team Stats
UNLV
CSU
FG%
.310
.436
3FG%
.261
.421
FT%
.875
1.000
RB
39
31
TO
14
14
STL
7
9
Game Leaders
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
5
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G/F
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's BasketballG
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