Colorado State University Athletics
Monday, November 25
Fort Collins, Colo.
6:30 PM
Colorado State
5-2,0-0Mountain West
59
vs
39
Black Hills State
4-4,0-0RMAC
1
2
3
4
F
Black Hills St.
8
11
8
12
39
Colorado St.
12
14
13
20
59
Simental Rescues Rams Offensively in Win
11/25/2024 9:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Senior paces team with 16 bench points
The offense hasn't come easy for the team this year, which is somewhat surprising with a roster featuring some capable scorers. The overall shooting hasn't reached the expected standard, and the 3-point shooting has definitely lagged behind.
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Monday night, it happened again for Colorado State's women's basketball team. And who better to turn things around than a reserve who has been struggling herself. It was as if Hannah Simental watched the early proceedings from the bench and decided she'd take matters into her own hands.
Â
"No. I mean, when I go in, I play the same and I just have teammates who have been very encouraging," said the fifth-year transfer guard. "When I get in there, I have a scoring mentality. They find me, and I think I had some opportunities, and it went in today."
Â
To the tune of a team-leading 16 points on a spectacular shooting night for her in a 59-39 victory at Moby Arena over Black Hills State, a team coached by former CSU assistant Rachel Erickson. With Simental as the catalyst, the Rams' bench contributed the brunt of the scoring, 38 points in all.
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Simental had been waiting for this performance, patiently. She was a career 40 percent 3-point shooter at Northern Colorado but was languishing at 20 percent at CSU. Against the Yellow Jackets, she started with a jumper in the paint, then proceeded to drain three consecutive 3-pointers and added a traditional three-point play as she produced 14 points in the first half. As a team, the Rams needed a savior of sorts as they only scored 26 in the first half.
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Somebody had to. It was a struggle bus offensively," CSU coach Ryun Williams said. "It was good to get her going, and it's not easy to do off the bench. She's been trying to find it. The thing I liked is how she just came in and shot with great confidence. We believe it's going in every time, so good to get her going."
Â
He can call it confidence. Which is what he's carried with her all season, despite the struggles. She's hit some big shots for the team already, and when she was a Bear, hit a few against her current team. He said her shot is just too darn good and she works too hard on it for it to continue, so he was confident.
Â
So was she. But maybe a bit threatened, too.
Â
"It feels good when it goes in. It's way better than when it goes out," she said. "They went in today. That's all that happened.
Â
"Missing shots isn't fun, but I just trust the process, and I have great teammates who have been encouraging me, next one's in," said Simental, who finished 6-of-8 from the floor, 3-of-4 on 3s. "Coaching staff does the same thing. Coach Ryun will tell me if I go in and pass up a shot, he's taking me out, so that's one way to get encouraged."
What carried the team through the game was what has been in a 5-2 start, which is a strong defensive effort. Due to that, the Rams could stay comfortably in front and wait for a shot to fall. Getting good shots was tough at times, as the Rams were uncharacteristically sloppy, finishing with 11 turnovers to match 11 assists.
Â
Allowing a team to shoot just 22.8 percent (just 17.9 from behind the arc) makes it easy to be patient.
Â
"You can kind of hang around in a game a little bit until you find some offense. I'm really pleased with how these kids are guarding," Williams said. "They shot 23 percent tonight. Nothing came too easy for them. We kept the ball in front of us really well tonight."
Â
Eventually, freshman Khloe Froebe would find some success, scoring seven points in the fourth quarter, bolstered by making all five of her free throws, finishing with 11. She alone outscored the other four starters.
Â
Again, she just felt it was one of those nights. Like her coach, she feels they will only progress to the point those nights are a thing of the past. And like her coach, she's impressed with the way they haven't carried it to the defensive side of the floor.
Â
"I think as we've played more and more together and just developed that chemistry, our game is just going to continue to progress and get better with each game we play together," she said. "We're going to have those ups and downs because there's a lot of new kids on the team playing together, but I think from the beginning it's really improved."
Â
Even if not scoring, the players found other ways to contribute. Sonna Strom collected seven rebounds, Emma Ronsiek led with five assists and Hannah Ronsiek was active defensively with three steals, getting her hands on a few more balls to create some chaos.
Â
But the Rams are thankful – and so is Simental – her old shooting form came back to life.
Â
Â
Monday night, it happened again for Colorado State's women's basketball team. And who better to turn things around than a reserve who has been struggling herself. It was as if Hannah Simental watched the early proceedings from the bench and decided she'd take matters into her own hands.
Â
"No. I mean, when I go in, I play the same and I just have teammates who have been very encouraging," said the fifth-year transfer guard. "When I get in there, I have a scoring mentality. They find me, and I think I had some opportunities, and it went in today."
Â
To the tune of a team-leading 16 points on a spectacular shooting night for her in a 59-39 victory at Moby Arena over Black Hills State, a team coached by former CSU assistant Rachel Erickson. With Simental as the catalyst, the Rams' bench contributed the brunt of the scoring, 38 points in all.
Â
Simental had been waiting for this performance, patiently. She was a career 40 percent 3-point shooter at Northern Colorado but was languishing at 20 percent at CSU. Against the Yellow Jackets, she started with a jumper in the paint, then proceeded to drain three consecutive 3-pointers and added a traditional three-point play as she produced 14 points in the first half. As a team, the Rams needed a savior of sorts as they only scored 26 in the first half.
Â
Somebody had to. It was a struggle bus offensively," CSU coach Ryun Williams said. "It was good to get her going, and it's not easy to do off the bench. She's been trying to find it. The thing I liked is how she just came in and shot with great confidence. We believe it's going in every time, so good to get her going."
Â
He can call it confidence. Which is what he's carried with her all season, despite the struggles. She's hit some big shots for the team already, and when she was a Bear, hit a few against her current team. He said her shot is just too darn good and she works too hard on it for it to continue, so he was confident.
Â
So was she. But maybe a bit threatened, too.
Â
"It feels good when it goes in. It's way better than when it goes out," she said. "They went in today. That's all that happened.
Â
"Missing shots isn't fun, but I just trust the process, and I have great teammates who have been encouraging me, next one's in," said Simental, who finished 6-of-8 from the floor, 3-of-4 on 3s. "Coaching staff does the same thing. Coach Ryun will tell me if I go in and pass up a shot, he's taking me out, so that's one way to get encouraged."
What carried the team through the game was what has been in a 5-2 start, which is a strong defensive effort. Due to that, the Rams could stay comfortably in front and wait for a shot to fall. Getting good shots was tough at times, as the Rams were uncharacteristically sloppy, finishing with 11 turnovers to match 11 assists.
Â
Allowing a team to shoot just 22.8 percent (just 17.9 from behind the arc) makes it easy to be patient.
Â
"You can kind of hang around in a game a little bit until you find some offense. I'm really pleased with how these kids are guarding," Williams said. "They shot 23 percent tonight. Nothing came too easy for them. We kept the ball in front of us really well tonight."
Â
Eventually, freshman Khloe Froebe would find some success, scoring seven points in the fourth quarter, bolstered by making all five of her free throws, finishing with 11. She alone outscored the other four starters.
Â
Again, she just felt it was one of those nights. Like her coach, she feels they will only progress to the point those nights are a thing of the past. And like her coach, she's impressed with the way they haven't carried it to the defensive side of the floor.
Â
"I think as we've played more and more together and just developed that chemistry, our game is just going to continue to progress and get better with each game we play together," she said. "We're going to have those ups and downs because there's a lot of new kids on the team playing together, but I think from the beginning it's really improved."
Â
Even if not scoring, the players found other ways to contribute. Sonna Strom collected seven rebounds, Emma Ronsiek led with five assists and Hannah Ronsiek was active defensively with three steals, getting her hands on a few more balls to create some chaos.
Â
But the Rams are thankful – and so is Simental – her old shooting form came back to life.
Â
Team Stats
BHSU
CSU
FG%
.228
.415
3FG%
.179
.294
FT%
.889
.625
RB
40
35
TO
16
11
STL
3
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
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