Growing Pains Dealt with in Season Opener

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at Gonzaga

FORT COLLINS – Some growing pains for sure. But some things picked up right where Colorado State women's basketball coach Ryun Williams would have liked.

In their season opener against Le Moyne, the Rams struggled to get going, but pulled away to a 69-49 victory.

Their aches in shooting to start weren't for lack of effort or play execution; the shots just simply wouldn't fall. While not a huge worry, fifth-year senior Meghan Boyd knows they can't wait forever to get to where they need to be.

"We're not just going against each other every day at practice, we're going against a different opponent, different offense and different defensive schemes," Boyd said. "I think that just comes along with some of the growing pains in the beginning of the season, just trying to figure out what works and where.

"We still have a couple new pieces this year, so with that, there are going to be some growing pains and things like that. But I feel like with a veteran team, we know what's at stake. With the first couple of games, we don't have all the time in the world to figure it out and basically turn it on."

Both teams struggled to shoot in the first quarter. The Rams shot a modest 39 percent from the field, but the Dolphins shot around 17 percent in a quarter which ended 13-9 in favor of the Rams.

Forward Cali Clark provided the spark on the offensive glass in the second quarter which jump started a 17-4 Rams run to finish the half. Three offensive boards from Clark resulted in seven points in a three-minute span. She finished with 12 rebounds, which led all players.

Her game-leading eight offensive rebounds – which tied for fifth most in a game – were a piece of the puzzle which kept the Rams up by double digits for as long as they were. She did acknowledge how at times, the team sometimes struggles to keep momentum rolling after breaks in play.

"I think we have lulls coming back after timeouts and especially after halftime," Clark said. "We just need to pick it up and know we're not playing the scoreboard, every play is the most important, and just keep going.

"I recognized (in the second quarter) we were in a lull, and I really love rebounding, coach knows that. So getting those, kind of getting us back into the swing of things and picking up the energy because I know offensive rebounds, the energy is really high after some of those, especially after you score off of it."

Boyd helped the shooting woes after halftime, hitting both of her 3-point attempts, including a huge 4-point play which she completed with the free throw, something she said she "doesn't hang her hat on," but knows she can affect games in that fashion.

For the most part, Williams was happy with the effort on defense as well. Holding a winning program to 49 points was a plus for him, but the different looks the Dolphins threw at the Rams also made for some good lessons learned.

"It was a great opening game here in Moby Arena, it was fun to be a part of the doubleheader, there's good energy out there tonight," Williams said. "A lot of credit to Le Moyne, that's a winning culture with a lot of experience back from a team which went 21-7 last year. They did some things which kind of muddied the game up and slowed it down a little bit. Overall, holding them to 49 points, I was really pleased with that effort.

"It's OK. Yeah, you want to look better, you want everything to be smooth and in sync, it just wasn't. They played a few different kinds of matchups, and we just didn't attack them as patiently as we needed to."

Colorado State was led by McKenna Hofschild who scored 24 points, while adding five assists and six rebounds.

The Rams will continue their season-opening homestand Thursday, hosting Alabama A&M at 6:30 p.m.

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