Rams Clamp Down Defensively to Top Wyoming

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. – In the elevator down to the pregame meal, Sydney Mech wiped a stray eyelash from the face of Clara Gomez and told her Spanish teammate to blow it away and make a wish.

Gomez seemed a bit confused by the folklore behind the request, but she went along with it anyway.

Good thing too, because her request came true.

All it took was a stunning defensive performance by Colorado State in the fourth quarter against Wyoming at the Thomas & Mack Center, leading to a 51-38 victory. Gomez's wish – simply a victory – comes with a trip to Tuesday's semifinals (8:30 p.m. MT) against No. 2 seed New Mexico.

CSU head coach Ryun Williams stood on the sidelines prior to the fourth quarter and had a few wishes himself.

"The message honestly is we're going to get enough stops," CSU coach Ryun Williams said. "That was really the message all night. We had to find some hoops though. You have to treat every possession like it's the most important; I think our kids really bought into that. They had a big fourth quarter in Laramie a couple of days ago. That was their best offensive quarter, and we wanted to flip that.

"You saw the urgency. I think you saw the detail that our kids played with. They were there on the catch, there was nothing easy for Wyoming. They just locked in and they played with great detail and great execution. They found a way."

The Rams limited Wyoming to just three points in the final stanza, a McKinley Bradshaw 3-pointer to put the Cowgirls up 38-37. CSU stiffened defensively, holding their rivals scoreless the final 6:29 of the game. Wyoming's 38 points were the fewest the Rams have given up this season.

The Cowgirls were just 1-of-13 in the quarter – 1-of-7 from behind the arc -- finishing at 25 percent from the field for the game.

"I think it comes down to being really focused, wanting it more," Upe Atosu said. "I feel like our team wanted it more."

There was one other thing Williams wanted, and he wasn't alone. Atosu and fellow guard Upe Atosu wanted the same thing too. Some shots to fall.

Buckets are always hard to come by when the two rivals meet, but the Rams compounded the problem by making it harder on themselves by not finishing at the rim when they had open lanes to the basket. Combined, the Rams' two leading scorers were just 4-of-23 from the field entering the final stanza.

"I wanted McKenna to be more aggressive. She was getting two feet in the paint, but she was looking to pass," Williams said. "She got a couple of those to go there, she got the fast-break basket, and I think that kind of relieved her a little bit. I like her attack-mode there in that fourth quarter. We made a slight adjustment to where we put some personnel so we could maybe get some downhill drives with Upe. She was very aggressive driving those rails, and she got a couple of those to go. If you get a five-point cushion against Wyoming, that just feels like a big lead. Those were much needed baskets."

Atosu, who missed her first seven shots of the game, picked up a bit of swagger in the third by drilling a pair of 3s. Early in the fourth quarter, she drove the lane for a pair of layups, and the look of relief on her face was undeniable.

"Oh yeah. I was," she said. "Being a scorer and not having a score for the first two quarters is just crazy. I was trying to get through my head, what do I need to do to get right? I think that in the fourth quarter, it was really, really nice for me, and I was happy I could contribute to the team."

She finished 14 points, eight coming in the fourth. Hofschild led the team with 16 points, getting six.

Like Atosu, getting a shot to fall helped improved her mood and her aggressiveness.

"I think we both know what we bring to this team and what's expected of us to bring to this team, so it's just keeping that mindset of keep attacking, keep being confident," Hofschild said. "She picks me up, I pick her up and together I think we make a nice 1-2 punch. It's pretty easy when I have a teammate like her to get back confidence."

Even nicer when you play lock-down defense on a rival to extend your season. After giving up 10 offensive rebounds, they only relinquished four in the final two quarters. That helped, as much as forcing 12 turnovers while only coughing up five.

The Rams, who also picked up 10 from Karly Murphy, scored 19 points in the fourth quarter, three less than what they scored in the first half.

In a game which was eyelash-close all night, featuring four ties and seven lead changes and where neither team led by more than six points, getting a double-digit cushion was exhilarating. Wyoming tried to play the foul game late, but the Rams responded by hitting 8-of-12 from the charity stripe to close.

The rubber match belonged to the Rams, making them the lowest-seeded team in Tuesday's semifinals, which also features the top two seeds with UNLV advancing.

"It's difficult. They know us really well, we know them really well," Hofschild said of Wyoming. "The way it went in Laramie, we weren't really happy about the ending. I think tonight we locked in and tried to get a win. Nineteen days, three games, that's a lot. It's really just coming down to execution and wanting it more."

It was the type of win a team can't wish for, it has to earn. But a little extra karma never hurts.

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