Colorado State University Athletics
Tuesday, November 19
Fort Collins, Colo.
6:30 PM
Colorado State
4-1,0-0Mountain West
78
vs
47
Southern
0-6,0-0SWAC
1
2
3
4
F
Southern U.
10
9
9
19
47
Colorado St.
12
20
23
23
78
Rams Lock Down in Win over Southern
11/19/2024 9:11:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Rams finish with 20 assists in victory
Defense was supposed to be the hard part.
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The Ram who returned knew Colorado State's system, but coach Ryun Williams has added a host of moving parts to the flow. That's supposed to take time, freshman or experienced transfer.
Â
It has not, with Tuesday's 78-47 win over Southern at Moby Arena another example. The Rams (4-1) held the Jaguars to just 25.4 percent shooting and forced 16 turnovers.
Â
Not that Williams is going to complain.
Â
"Everybody asks me what are you most surprised about this group and it's that we're as connected and locked in, and we perform defensively as well as we have," Williams said. "That usually takes a little bit longer. We do some unique things defensively at times, but the biggest thing is they really compete. That's what I've really enjoyed about this group. They really compete and they take pride in stopping somebody."
Â
At one point in the third, Hannah Ronsiek went for a steal, only to get popped in the nose. It shocked her, and she reached to the appendage a couple of times (she did have it broken a year ago), then finished the play by blocking a shot before exiting to the bench.
Â
The Rams entered the game limiting teams to just 32.3 percent from the field, 19.8 behind the arc, and they surpassed that in the win, though the guests did get a bit hot in a lax stage of the fourth quarter. With a 30-point lead, the starters exited. When the team became sloppy, they reentered and restored order.
Â
The Rams even won the rebounding battle, 37-36. The efforts to get the defense tied together over the offseason have worked, much to the delight of the players putting in the work.
Â
"I think we still are trying to find our way, and defensively, you can see we're really starting to get there," Sanna Strom said. "And it's no matter who's on the court, so I think we're doing a good job."
Â
The Rams had a spurt in each quarter, which helped create the separation on the scoreboard. Southern caught up at the start of the second, but from there out, the Rams held court, pushing out to a 13-point advantage at half.
Â
Hannah Ronsiek heated up in the second quarter, and in a third which was even better for the Rams, Emma Ronsiek and Strom provided much of the punch to break the game open. At the end of the night, 10 of the 11 Rams who played scored and eight of them had assists.
Â
Which may also be a surprise to some after losing the best point guard in program history. The facts are the team is averaging almost one assist more per game, and instead of relying on one distributor, the masses are taking over.
Â
The end result was 20 assists, with Marta Leimane leading with five, Emma adding four while a trio of other Rams had at least two. The Rams had six games last year where they finished with 19 or more assists. Through five games they already have three.
Â
"I thought tonight 20 assists was good tonight because they disrupt, not just the ball, but they speed up your mind a little bit and maybe put a little bit of panic in your mind," Williams said. "We saw that at times, but I was really pleased with how we spread the wealth as far as sharing the basketball and different kids distributing it. We saw the play. This is what the game called for, the right play was to do this, and we saw it a far amount tonight."
Â
It led to a balanced scoring attack. Emma's second-half spurt led to a game high 14, 11 of which came in the final 20 minutes. Hanna and Strom closed with 13, with freshman Brooke Carlson hitting double figures for the second consecutive game with 11.
Â
To Strom, a lackluster start offensively (1-of-9 from 3 in the first quarter) isn't going deter a team confident in their offensive abilities and the multitude of players who can score.
Â
"I think it's a lot of the work we do in practice. We have a ton of great shooters, and we've been shooting great in practice since the summer," Strom said. "I think we're just confident even though the games before this they weren't falling. We all know we can do it, and we all trust each other to do it as well."
Â
Yet as the season is just getting under way, it's the defensive effort which is making the biggest impact, and surprised or not, the Rams are perfectly OK with the development.
Â
"I think we're better defensively this year just because we also have a lot more guard play," Hannah said. "We're able to switch and keep them around the arc and they can't dribble penetrate as much. I think that's helped us defensively this year."
Â
Â
The Ram who returned knew Colorado State's system, but coach Ryun Williams has added a host of moving parts to the flow. That's supposed to take time, freshman or experienced transfer.
Â
It has not, with Tuesday's 78-47 win over Southern at Moby Arena another example. The Rams (4-1) held the Jaguars to just 25.4 percent shooting and forced 16 turnovers.
Â
Not that Williams is going to complain.
Â
"Everybody asks me what are you most surprised about this group and it's that we're as connected and locked in, and we perform defensively as well as we have," Williams said. "That usually takes a little bit longer. We do some unique things defensively at times, but the biggest thing is they really compete. That's what I've really enjoyed about this group. They really compete and they take pride in stopping somebody."
Â
At one point in the third, Hannah Ronsiek went for a steal, only to get popped in the nose. It shocked her, and she reached to the appendage a couple of times (she did have it broken a year ago), then finished the play by blocking a shot before exiting to the bench.
Â
The Rams entered the game limiting teams to just 32.3 percent from the field, 19.8 behind the arc, and they surpassed that in the win, though the guests did get a bit hot in a lax stage of the fourth quarter. With a 30-point lead, the starters exited. When the team became sloppy, they reentered and restored order.
Â
The Rams even won the rebounding battle, 37-36. The efforts to get the defense tied together over the offseason have worked, much to the delight of the players putting in the work.
Â
"I think we still are trying to find our way, and defensively, you can see we're really starting to get there," Sanna Strom said. "And it's no matter who's on the court, so I think we're doing a good job."
Â
The Rams had a spurt in each quarter, which helped create the separation on the scoreboard. Southern caught up at the start of the second, but from there out, the Rams held court, pushing out to a 13-point advantage at half.
Â
Hannah Ronsiek heated up in the second quarter, and in a third which was even better for the Rams, Emma Ronsiek and Strom provided much of the punch to break the game open. At the end of the night, 10 of the 11 Rams who played scored and eight of them had assists.
Â
Which may also be a surprise to some after losing the best point guard in program history. The facts are the team is averaging almost one assist more per game, and instead of relying on one distributor, the masses are taking over.
Â
The end result was 20 assists, with Marta Leimane leading with five, Emma adding four while a trio of other Rams had at least two. The Rams had six games last year where they finished with 19 or more assists. Through five games they already have three.
Â
"I thought tonight 20 assists was good tonight because they disrupt, not just the ball, but they speed up your mind a little bit and maybe put a little bit of panic in your mind," Williams said. "We saw that at times, but I was really pleased with how we spread the wealth as far as sharing the basketball and different kids distributing it. We saw the play. This is what the game called for, the right play was to do this, and we saw it a far amount tonight."
Â
It led to a balanced scoring attack. Emma's second-half spurt led to a game high 14, 11 of which came in the final 20 minutes. Hanna and Strom closed with 13, with freshman Brooke Carlson hitting double figures for the second consecutive game with 11.
Â
To Strom, a lackluster start offensively (1-of-9 from 3 in the first quarter) isn't going deter a team confident in their offensive abilities and the multitude of players who can score.
Â
"I think it's a lot of the work we do in practice. We have a ton of great shooters, and we've been shooting great in practice since the summer," Strom said. "I think we're just confident even though the games before this they weren't falling. We all know we can do it, and we all trust each other to do it as well."
Â
Yet as the season is just getting under way, it's the defensive effort which is making the biggest impact, and surprised or not, the Rams are perfectly OK with the development.
Â
"I think we're better defensively this year just because we also have a lot more guard play," Hannah said. "We're able to switch and keep them around the arc and they can't dribble penetrate as much. I think that's helped us defensively this year."
Â
Team Stats
SU
CSU
FG%
.254
.519
3FG%
.269
.321
FT%
.833
.867
RB
36
37
TO
16
10
STL
4
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
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