Rams Use Third-Quarter Surge to Pull Away from the Cowgirls

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – After a tied halftime score, the Colorado State women's basketball team doubled Wyoming's output in the third quarter to create enough separation to defeat the Cowgirls 56-45 Thursday evening at Moby Arena.

The hot streak started at the 5:29 mark of the third quarter when Kendyll Kinzer drained a 3 to give the back-and-forth game its biggest margin yet at five points in CSU's favor. The Rams proceeded to go on a 13-6 run to conclude a lopsided 24-12 quarter, giving CSU a 12-point lead. Within the streak was 11 straight from Upe Atosu en route to her 15 total points. CSU extended its lead to as many as 17 points in the fourth and didn't let the Cowgirls dip back below single digits in the margin.

CSU Improved to 17-7 overall, but more importantly to 8-6 in Mountain West play, tying Wyoming (12-11, 8-6 MW) and staying in the top half of the conference standings. McKenna Hofschild played all forty minutes, tallying a game-high 16 points and 10 assists for her fourth double-double of the season. The assists brought the guard to 161 on the season, which ties Becky Hammon for fourth on CSU's all-time single season assist list. She passed Deb Spickler (1981-82, 151) and Jasai Ferrucho (2003-04, 158).

"Tremendous win for us tonight against a team and program that we have a ton of respect for," head coach Ryun Williams said." I love how our student-athletes grinded defensively, guarding a talented Wyoming team. Each game keeps getting bigger and more important and our team sensed that and showed great heart tonight. This is a great win to have before the MW tournament. It builds confidence and belief on the defensive end and if we can keep building on that it can turn into wins in the tournament."

The Rams and Cowgirls were tied up at 21 at the end of the first half, but the CSU defense stepped up in the second half. Wyoming finished the game with 10 turnovers with five in each half, while the Rams had just five all game with one in the second half. CSU turned those turnovers to nine points – nine more than what UW got off the Rams' miscues. Sydney Mech was a force on the defensive end, accounting for all three of the Rams' blocks and added a steal to cap off a stellar defensive night.

Offensively, Kendyll Kinzer added 13 points with a 4-of-5 shooting clip from the 3-point land. The Rams held Wyoming to a cool 27.4% field goal percentage, while shooting 40% from the field themselves.

Next, the Rams will travel to Reno to face the Nevada Wolf Pack on Sunday, Feb. 20^th with a 3 p.m. tip inside the Lawlor Events Center.

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

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