Hofschild Carries Rams to Split with 67-58 Win at UNLV

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LAS VEGAS – Upping her career-best scoring mark for the second game in a row, McKenna Hofschild dropped 24 points to lead the Rams past UNLV, 67-58, which earned the series split against the Lady Rebels Saturday afternoon at the Cox Pavilion.

After letting the Lady Rebels reach 80 points on Thursday, the Rams' defense was not having it on Saturday as they limited UNLV to under 60 with a shooting clip of 34.3%. Offensively, Hofschild picked up right where she left off when she scored a then career-best 20 points in game one of the series. The Prior Lake, Minnesota native was 8-for-15 from the field with a career-best six 3s, while she added two rebounds, and two assists.

The Rams improved to 8-2 overall and 4-2 in the Mountain West, while UNLV dropped to 4-5 and 2-2, respectively. The Lady Rebels took game one of the series on Thursday with a score of 80-76.

"We came out with great energy and played very intentionally on defense," head coach Ryun Williams said. "You have to give UNLV credit though; they are difficult to guard. Our players battled for all 40 minutes and developed a rhythm that continued throughout. In the fourth, we made some tough plays that gave us a really good road win."

It did not take long for Hofschild to get going either as she had seven points at the end of the first frame with CSU leading 21-17. However, UNLV scored 11 unanswered points early to force a Williams' timeout which righted the ship as Petra Farkas and Hofschild responded with back-to-back 3s. The Rams finished the first half on a 7-0 run with a Hofschild trey to take them into the half leading 38-32.

As if there was no break, Hofschild drilled a three from the corner to start the second half, but the Lady Rebels were responding with blows of their own and it was a one possession game at 52-49 going into the fourth.

A coast-to-coast Hofschild layup started it this time, but it was not until the midpoint of the quarter that CSU tightened the grip on their lead. Freshman Cali Clark tracked down an offensive rebound that extended the possession and concluded with Hofschild's sixth 3-pointer. The transaction pushed the Rams up by six with 4:15 to play, but it was a momentum swing. The Lady Rebels responded with a tough layup, but Tori Williams was right there to match it. With a minute left, freshman Ellie Boni in transition from the defensive press found a wide open Lore Devos who swished in a triple, which all but secured it for the Rams.

"Tremendous game but Cali," Ryun Williams said. "And most of it won't show up in the box score. She did a great job guarding the ball screen and gave us extra possessions with her rebounding."

The Rams shot 42.2% including a 47.6% clip from 3, while UNLV under 35% in both including a 25% clip from deep. Another difference between game one was the Rams work on the glass as they outrebounded UNLV 45-42 in this one. Karly Murphy who started for the first time since the beginning of the season due to injury tallied eight boards. Tori Williams finished with 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.

"We knew we had to lock down on defense as they scored in the 80s the other night," Tori Williams said. "When we lost the other night, we were just wanting to come right back out and play, because we were close. We went back to our scout and fine-tuned a bit and were ready today. We are continuing to build our chemistry, which is exciting because we have many different options to score."

The Rams are back in action and back at home inside of Moby Arena on Jan. 14 against San Jose State with a 6 p.m. MT tip off.

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

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