Final Flourish Leaves Rams Alone in Second

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A guard game, start to finish.

Ryun Williams expected nothing less, knowing San Diego State goes four guards deep who can defend not only the perimeter but the drive. That just happens to be the fuel for his Colorado State women's basketball engine.

Which is how it played out for the first 30 minutes. In the final 10, the Rams proved they can throw up a roadblock when needed to produce a comfortable 71-58 victory at Moby Arena on Monday night in what had been a tight battle.

"We've been working on finishing out tough games. I think one of the huddles we had, McKenna (Hofschild) was, 'let's finish this out,'" Cailyn Crocker said. "We've had a lot of close games this season we have not finished out. This is a step forward of what all of our hard work every single day we're doing. We're figuring it out. We keep our foot on the gas and I think we definitely could feel them getting tired and that we had it."

In a game where every run was answered, the Rams found a way to silence San Diego State in the fourth quarter as the Aztecs missed their final 10 shots of the contest. The bonus is it leaves Colorado State alone in second place in the Mountain West standings at 5-1 in conference play, 12-5 overall. The Aztecs slipped to 4-2, 14-5.

Entering the night, it was the Rams who led the league in scoring offense, the Aztecs on top in scoring defense. In a conference where the reigning player of the year is a post (UNLV's Desi-Rae Young), if a team is to survive, it had better possess strong guard play, because all of the contenders have dynamite in the backcourt.

However, no one is more explosive at this very moment than Hofschild.

The Aztecs assigned Asia Avinger, a noted ballhawk, the task of slowing her down. As hard as she worked, it just wasn't going to happen. Hofschild, the leading scorer in the MW, was 11-of-16 from the floor on her way to 28 points, collecting nine rebounds in the process. For the first three quarters, she was the lone CSU guard who found a way to create opportunities and score.

While she's had bigger scoring outputs, this one just seemed more impressive considering the foe.

"I think it's a very impressive game for McKenna. She just kind of let the game come to her," Williams said. "I thought earlier she could have been a little more aggressive. That's' why when I look at the stat sheet, I can't believe she had 28. She's so good in space.

"I thought our kids created a lot of space, thought we set some pretty impactful screens up top, and we finished with some contact."

It just took awhile for Destiny Thurman and Crocker to find their way, because it isn't just Avinger who can guard, but Sophia Ramos and Abby Prohaska, too, both of whom have a physical nature. When needed, the Aztecs could bring the length of Alex Crain off the bench, with all four of them on the floor at times.

So the Rams came up with a new plan to get Hofschild some additional scoring punch.

"We did a few different things in the second half to maybe play through Destiny," Williams said. "Avinger is very gifted offensively, but defensively, she's a nightmare in a good way. That young lady is special. The pressure she would put on McKenna, we have the luxury of playing through a Destiny and playing through a Crocker, so that was the decision we made at halftime was to relieve a little pressure off McKenna. Once we got the ball moving and got some energy in it, we attacked some closeouts and did some good things."

Crocker didn't have many looks, but she made the most of them on her way to 11 points. Thurman found some space, too, closing with 14 points.

Nothing came easy, so a tip of the cap to SDSU. But it did come, and that's credit to the Rams' backcourt.

"I've been playing with and against Asia since middle school. I knew she would be a dog hound on McKenna and the rest of us," Crocker said. "I realized they were denying me really high, so it was really hard to get the ball at first, but I think we figured it out backdoor. McKenna is great at seeing you and trying to figure it out. We got it together."

San Diego State's balance kept it a tight game. Prohaska, new to the roster as a transfer from Notre Dame, had her stroke going early on her way to a team-best 21. Ramos picked up the pace in the second, finishing with 15, and Kim Villalobos found some space inside to add 12. Avinger, averaging 12.5 a contest, was limited to just four points.

As much as the Rams needed their guards offensively to finish, they needed a defensive push to match. Cali Clark, with her six rebounds and three blocked shots, helped in that regard.

"That's two games in a row where we've had really good fourth quarters defensively," Williams said. "We made a slight adjustment on their ball-screen offense, and it helped us. It limited their 3s and their middle penetration a little bit. We were just searching for that next gear, that next level defensively, and it finally came in the fourth quarter."

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