Rams Take Down No. 2 New Mexico in Tourney Semifinals

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

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Knowing exactly how New Mexico likes to butter its bread, Colorado State took the simplest approach.

The Rams stole the knife, then weilded it like a dagger in upsetting the second-seeded Lobos 82-71 in the Mountain West Tournament semifinals to advance to Wednesday's championship game at the Thomas & Mack Center.

It is Colorado State's first women's title-game appearance since 2016, when it last won the championship. The Rams will face top-seeded UNLV, which earned a spot with a 61-50 win over Air Force in the earlier game Tuesday. The final will be televised on CBS Sports Network at 8 p.m. (MT).

New Mexico had beaten Colorado State twice this season, striking blow after blow from deep as the Lobos ranked third nationally in 3-pointers taken and made. But the Rams (21-10) contested shots early, fighting through screens and rushing shooters and the result was the Lobos making just 1-of-10 in the first quarter as CSU built a 14-9 lead.

"I think it's always a confidence booster when you see the ball go in for us and maybe not necessarily as much for them," CSU guard McKenna Hofschild said. "We knew we had to lock in for 40 minutes tonight, otherwise we would not get a win. They're so talented on the offensive end. As the game went on, we just got more confidence and playing even better and better."

The central point of the defensive plan was Sydney Mech guarding Antonia Anderson, who had burned the Rams in the two earlier meetings, making 15 of her 34 3-point attempts. She took just two in the game, missing both and didn't score at all.

It's how the Lobos have made their way this season. Even without the big gun, the squad is so offensively talented it had four players in double figures, but their bite just wasn't as deep and definitely not lethal.

"(Mech) got the start on Anderson, and that's where it started for us. She's a dynamic stretch 4," CSU coach Ryun Williams said. "She can impact a lot of different spots. Her length, she had a big blocked shot late. It started with Sydney."

The approach had lingering effects, because when the Lobos did get open looks, they were still off the mark as LaTora Duff shot 19 of them, making six, and Jaedyn De La Cerda made just 1-of-5.

Their aim didn't improve until the fourth quarter when they finally hit 6-of-12. The Rams' offense was still scoring, too, and in the final few minutes of the game, the Lobos had to resort to fouling to buy time, but the Rams hit enough free throws (10-of-15) to run out the clock as the bench danced and chanted, "I'm proud to be a CSU Ram."

"I think that was a big difference between the first two times. We did not give them any easy ones," Williams said. "They made a lot of easy 3s the first two times we played them. Tonight, everything was fairly contested – they felt us. They could feel our urgency and our compete on their shots."

It was really too late, thanks in large part to Karly Murphy's third quarter.

Like the Rams did defensively, Murphy learned from past mistakes. She backed down or simply went around the defense of Shaiquel McGruder to the tune of 12 points in the third quarter on her way to a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds. Now with 268 rebounds on the year, she ranks fourth all-time on the single-season list.

"I've gone against her four times now, so I knew she was a shot blocker," Murphy said. "Just having that confidence to play on-on-one and my teammates giving me a little bit of space there and trusting that I could score it was awesome. Once you see a couple go in, it gives you a bit of momentum."

The quarter was the Rams' best of the evening, with Murphy scoring half of the 24 points. It helped them turn a two-point edge at halftime into a 10-point gap heading to the final 10 minutes. While some upsets come via stunners at the buzzer, the only possible shock in this win was the Rams never trailed and led for 37:13.

In the fourth, the Lobos were fed up with Murphy having her way, moving to a zone. It didn't matter, as Mech started flashing to the free-throw line and drilling midrange jumpers. When she wasn't, Upe Atosu was driving the lane for baskets.

"That was huge. I think Karly really kinda took that game over in the third quarter, and to see that happen, I think we all knew, alright, it's go time, it's really time to finish this game," Hofschild said. "To have kind of lead the way, the leader that she is, it gave us all a huge confidence boost."

The Rams finished with four players in double figures, with Atosu leading the pack with 23, while Hofschild closed with 18 and five assists and Mech had 12.

The defense had to be there, without question. The offensive performance, too, shooting 49.2 percent as a team. The little things also contributed to the victory, as the Rams finally outrebounded the Lobos (47-35), allowing the Rams to run. They did that better, too, outscoring the Lobos 15-4 on the fast break.

"That's a goal of ours every game is trying to win those boards," Murphy said. "It's tough, it's a battle down there, but tonight we did a great job having five girls crash the glass almost every single time."

The night before, after knocking out No. 3 Wyoming, Hofschild talked about really wanting to finally beat the Lobos, something she had never done. Before she leaves Las Vegas, she's in the mood to grab even more.

"Yeah, I might want one more win," she said with a smile. "For real, New Mexico is such a good team, so to finally get a win feels really good. This team played their hearts out tonight and we have a tough one tomorrow, but we're ready, for sure."

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results