Colorado State University Athletics
Thursday, January 7
Las Vegas, NV
6 PM MT
Colorado State
76
at
80
UNLV
Back and Forth Game Goes to Lady Rebels, 80-76
1/7/2021 8:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Colorado State Drops Game One against UNLV, 80-76
LAS VEGAS – Breaking off the 19-day holiday break rust was apparent despite a second half surge Thursday evening for the Rams in an 80-76 defeat to UNLV at the Cox Pavilion.
A 12-1 run early in the third quarter erased a Ram deficit to tie it at 44-all and from there the game was knotted up three more times with the final one with 3:30 left to play in the game at 71-all. It was a one-possession game with 30 seconds to play, but in a half of all offense, the Lady Rebels defense flexed to get a game-clinching block and then two more stops to hold onto the win.
UNLV improved to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain West, while Colorado State dropped to 7-2 and 3-2, respectively. The sluggish first half for the Rams might best be illustrated by the leading scorer's split. McKenna Hofschild scored a career-high 20 points but had 18 of them in the second half when the Rams started attacking with confidence.
"We scored 46 points in the second half, but we didn't guard well tonight," head coach Ryun Williams said. "I'm not sure there was a time in the game where we had three or four stops in a row, and you have to have that. Offensively, we were a little hesitant in the first half, but we got going in the second half. McKenna played like McKenna. Tori showed toughness as she has not practice in awhile due to injury. We are going to have to show more patience offensively and settle up some defensive assignment in preparation for Saturday's tip."
Both teams started off the game running up and down the court as if they had not played in weeks, because it was true. At the first media timeout it was 10-all with an even Ram split of points between Petra Farkas and Karly Murphy. The first quarter closed with UNLV holding a slight lead at 18-17, but the Lady Rebels took advantage of a sluggish Ram offense in the second as they went into the half with a 38-30 lead. Farkas led the Rams with eight points at the half.
After the aforementioned Ram 12-1 third quarter run, the Lady Rebels answered shortly after with eight unanswered which put them back up by eight. However, Farkas hit her third 3 of the game to close the quarter and put the Rams down by five. Farkas finished with 11 points.
Entering the fourth the Lady Rebels led at 56-51, meaning both teams poured in 49 combined points in a back-and-forth affair. Hofschild had a dozen in the fourth frame herself, however UNLV's Bailey Thomas had 11 of her career-high 29 in the frame to match.
Both teams shot 45% from the field and dropped 12 treys. The glaring difference on the box score was in the rebounding column with UNLV winning 43-29.
The Rams and the Lady Rebels will be back at it Saturday at 1 p.m. MT to wrap up the two-game series inside of the Cox Pavilion.
For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball
A 12-1 run early in the third quarter erased a Ram deficit to tie it at 44-all and from there the game was knotted up three more times with the final one with 3:30 left to play in the game at 71-all. It was a one-possession game with 30 seconds to play, but in a half of all offense, the Lady Rebels defense flexed to get a game-clinching block and then two more stops to hold onto the win.
UNLV improved to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain West, while Colorado State dropped to 7-2 and 3-2, respectively. The sluggish first half for the Rams might best be illustrated by the leading scorer's split. McKenna Hofschild scored a career-high 20 points but had 18 of them in the second half when the Rams started attacking with confidence.
"We scored 46 points in the second half, but we didn't guard well tonight," head coach Ryun Williams said. "I'm not sure there was a time in the game where we had three or four stops in a row, and you have to have that. Offensively, we were a little hesitant in the first half, but we got going in the second half. McKenna played like McKenna. Tori showed toughness as she has not practice in awhile due to injury. We are going to have to show more patience offensively and settle up some defensive assignment in preparation for Saturday's tip."
Both teams started off the game running up and down the court as if they had not played in weeks, because it was true. At the first media timeout it was 10-all with an even Ram split of points between Petra Farkas and Karly Murphy. The first quarter closed with UNLV holding a slight lead at 18-17, but the Lady Rebels took advantage of a sluggish Ram offense in the second as they went into the half with a 38-30 lead. Farkas led the Rams with eight points at the half.
After the aforementioned Ram 12-1 third quarter run, the Lady Rebels answered shortly after with eight unanswered which put them back up by eight. However, Farkas hit her third 3 of the game to close the quarter and put the Rams down by five. Farkas finished with 11 points.
Entering the fourth the Lady Rebels led at 56-51, meaning both teams poured in 49 combined points in a back-and-forth affair. Hofschild had a dozen in the fourth frame herself, however UNLV's Bailey Thomas had 11 of her career-high 29 in the frame to match.
Both teams shot 45% from the field and dropped 12 treys. The glaring difference on the box score was in the rebounding column with UNLV winning 43-29.
The Rams and the Lady Rebels will be back at it Saturday at 1 p.m. MT to wrap up the two-game series inside of the Cox Pavilion.
For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball
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Players Mentioned
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