Rams Open Early Present in Win Over Regis

Calendar

Show:/

Oct 18

TBA

Women's Basketball

vs South Dakota (Exh.)

Oct 29

6:30 pm

Women's Basketball

vs Colorado Christian (Exh.)

Nov 4

6:00 pm

Women's Basketball

vs Weber State

Nov 9

1:00 pm

Women's Basketball

vs Long Beach State

Nov 13

TBA

Women's Basketball

at Gonzaga

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Get out of the game clean. Leave the arena feeling good. Stuff a few stockings along the way.

That was all Colorado State's women's basketball team wanted out of Monday night, playing the last game of the non-conference season with the holidays looming at the end of the week. Beating Regis handily by an 83-55 margin at Moby Arena hit Rudolph right square in his big, red nose.

"We got that game edge back. I thought it took us maybe four or five minutes to kinda feel the game again," CSU coach Ryun Williams said. "This is exactly what this group needed. I think they saw the ball go in the basket, we shared it quite well tonight and defensively we were fairly disruptive against a team I feel can score.

"It was a workman-like effort, and that's how we've practiced the last few days. The kids have come to work, they get their stuff done and that's how we played tonight."

The first few minutes of the game, the Rams (7-5) looked like a group coming off finals week. The first two possessions were missed layups, the next couple led to turnovers as the Rams had six in the early going, not at all the calling card of a team leading the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.02). But they started to settle into the game once they got on the board, and Meghan Boyd could finally put a milestone in her rearview mirror.

Held scoreless the last game out in a loss to San Francisco, Boyd's first shot of the game was a 3-pointer, giving her 1,000 career points (including her time at Denver), but she was far from finished. As the game progressed, so did her production, sharing the team lead in scoring with 15 along with McKenna Hofschild.

"It was a little bit in my head for the San Francisco game, and then over the course of the week I definitely forgot about it until one of the coaches said something," Boyd said. "I wasn't going to go out and try to force anything. I was just going to be patient."

To Williams, it was a good way to get the game flow started – a feel-good moment not just for Boyd, but for her team. She hit 3-of-7 from deep, and then Kendyll Kinzer came off the bench and hit a couple treys to bridge the first two quarters on her way to 12 points on the night.

Coming off the bench is a new wrinkle for her, but it hasn't changed her game or her outlook on what she is expected to provide, including her five rebounds and two assists.

"I don't think I've adjusted my game. I'm still trying to crash the boards when I get in and bring a spark coming off the bench," she said. "That's a little bit different from last year, just trying to provide that energy that sometimes you need when you come in. I've been focusing on that, defense and rebounding."

In the end, the team had a foursome with double digits, as Destiny Thurman contributed 13. Hofschild missed her third double-double of the year by one assist as the team closed with 21.

What felt the best was the way the Rams played team defense. They were active throughout the game, leading to a host of good things. They had 14 steals on the night, led by Thurman's four, forcing 21 turnovers in all. They had eight blocked shots, with Cali Clark swatting three.

Regis shot just 30.6 percent, a number bumped by a late hot streak.

"We needed to see that. I harp on it a lot," Williams said. "I'm not going to say we're bad in that area, but that's the area where we, to get to a different level, we have to continue to improve. I thought we were fairly disruptive on the ball. I thought we moved very well, we caused some turnovers, and we were active and contesting the shot and had a lot of block tonight, which allowed us to get out and run."

The Rams had Sydney Mech back in the lineup, and her lone blocked shot was the 67^th of her career, putting her alone in 10^th all time in program history, another nice stocking stuffer for the team.

The Rams limited Regis to just 20 points in the first half, and they didn't relent much until the final five minutes as some regulars picked up some much needed rest. It also enabled Williams to get some backups some key minutes, such as letting Marta Leimane run the offense from the point, and the game minutes were valuable to use a zone defense, which Williams thinks they'll need in conference play.

Now, they can make a quick trip home for the holidays, then be back on a plane to Fort Collins on Christmas night. Four days later, the Mountain West slate begins with a home tilt with Fresno State on Dec. 29. They do so with Monday's efforts feeling like a gift which will keep on giving.

"I think it just helps us build on what's to come, especially in conference," Boyd said. "Not giving up easy stuff on defense is going to be the key in conference, for sure, so we wanted to focus on that. I think we got a lot of steals, there were no easy buckets and we rebounded and pushed the pace from that."

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results