Thurman Thrives with Quality Performance in Victory Over Wolf Pack

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – It was just destined for Destiny.

Destiny Thurman forged a path transferring from the UTEP to move North and take on the Mountain West. In her senior year in Fort Collins, she has far from disappointed. Thursday night only exemplified this further, as she led Colorado State past the Nevada, 84-67.

"Good win by our team, and this was a game we could've easily overlooked," Head Coach Ryun Williams said. "I thought our kids came out and performed really well offensively, so it was a very good victory."

Thurman was simply electric and had every shot fall just how it needed to. She was a machine on the floor, specifically in the first half. Luckily, the hot streak didn't burn the wood floor in the win.

Nonetheless, Thurman's numbers don't lie, tying her season-high 29 points. She was in the running for beating her career-high in points (30 at UTEP), along with the school records for most made threes in a game and highest three shooting percentage in a game before taking her foot off the gas.

"I feel like I just had a lot of open shots," Thurman said. "I had missed one, so I kept just letting them go. I felt really good tonight, and I just kept on shooting."

With Thurman taking over tonight's headlines, her shadow casts how much of a team performance it really was for the Rams. Cailyn Crocker put up 14 points, just missing her career high of 19 points.

McKenna Hofschild didn't leave the spotlight quietly either, putting up 17 points and led in assists with seven. While the three names above starred in the show, working together within the team was all they needed for success and Williams shouted out a name of his own.

"I thought Cali Clark was big-time. I think we should be talking more about her," Williams said. "She's my MVP with 14 rebounds. I didn't think we were very tough tonight; she had the toughness for five people, she was our toughness."

In the first half altogether, the Rams shot 9-of-13 from the floor. This included a whopping 5-of-7 from behind the arch, four of them from Thurman alone – who shot a perfect in the second quarter.

While Thurman was the star of the quarter and the half, her streakiness would be the difference when it came down to the end. With Moby Arena loving the sight and sound of the ball swishing through the net almost every time they went down the end of the court, there would still be plenty of basketball left to play.

"Destiny has had some really good halves, and I thought that young lady was really good and can really get going," Williams said. "You need to feed that … we just wanted more of that in the second half, and we did what we needed to do."

While their performance in the first half made it seem as if there would be some school history made, it wouldn't be the case. A lackluster second half would make the game closer than some maybe wished.

A lapse in shooting and defensive errors let the Wolf Pack smell blood in the water. Nevada managed to get within 10 in the fourth quarter. However, Hofschild managed to make enough of her chances to put the game away for her side.

"Nevada played a really tough and aggressive second half," Williams said. "You could look at some stats, but I felt like they were tougher and more aggressive than us."

Toughness and aggression are keys for the Rams' upcoming game on Saturday. The top of the Mountain West comes to town, with UNLV boasting a perfect conference record and riding a nine-game win streak.

Colorado State is on a five-game win streak of their own and carrying a 13-5 record overall along with a 7-1 record in the conference. However, they'll need more from up and down their lineup to get to the top, Williams mentioned. His players know it too. "It's going to be an important matchup which just might determine who ends up winning the Mountain West."

"We just need to do everything right," Clark said. "We can't make any errors, knowing who we're playing against, and what kind of intensity we need for each game."

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