Rams Close Out Wyoming in Fourth

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In a span of 10 minutes, they lost themselves and regained their composure. Lost a lead and still found the confidence to find it again.

In a rollercoaster of a season, the fourth quarters haven't always been kind to Colorado State's women's basketball team, but the Rams produced one of their best – and most important – finishing touches of the campaign in a 75-70 Border War win over Wyoming at Moby Arena.

"I like 75 points. Wyoming shoots it, and we did let (Tess) Barnes and (Emma) Mellema go crazy a little bit in that third, but we won that fourth quarter, and that's where we struggle a little bit this year," CSU coach Ryun Williams said. "We had a 26-point fourth quarter, kind of the opposite of how it went in Laramie when Wyoming really got after us and won the game. I'm glad we played with some fight and some grit, but we also executed and had to perform. We kind of did it all in that fourth, and the ol' coach likes that."

Saturday's home date with the Cowgirls was the closing act of a challenging set through the top three teams in the Mountain West standings, the first two coming on the road. A four-point fourth doomed them at New Mexico, and a midweek loss to conference-leading UNLV was heartbreaking in its own right, but also a bit encouraging.

After limiting Wyoming to 24 points in the first half Saturday, the Rams (16-9, 7-7 MW) lost touch of the Cowgirls' outside shooters, Mellema and Barnes, who combined hit all six 3-pointers they took. The guests quickly turned a deficit into an advantage, scoring 27 points in the frame.

Instead of letting it get out of control, Colorado State regained a measure of footing, trailing 51-49. Then the Rams answered in kind.

Scoring 26 points in the final stanza, the Rams were playing with a lead in the tense final minutes of the contest, forcing Wyoming to have to find an answer. A final 3-point attempt did not find the mark, and Sydney Mech grabbed the carom and hit the resulting foul shots leading into the celebration.

All that happened in the past didn't haunt the team, it lifted it.

"We came into the third quarter up and the game had totally shifted," Hannah Ronsiek said. "We had been in that situation so many times before where we just let teams bring it to us. We decided that wasn't going to happen this game, so I think that's when the energy shifted. We were still down entering the fourth, but we felt the energy was on our side."

As the season hits the backstretch, Colorado State is suddenly finding balance in the offense. Four Rams finished in double figures, none of them named McKenna Hofschild. The conference's leading scorer finished with nine (five in the fourth after a scoreless first half), but she did contribute 13 assists.

No, it was Marta Leimane paving the way with the second 20-point game of her career, a 10-of-15 night constructed on an aggressiveness in driving the lane. Sanna Strom, tasked mostly with muscling down low with Allyson Fertig, scored 10.

"I think we've changed our flow and motion. Kenna still gets her drives, and she kicks it out and we get longer possessions," Leimane said. "I think it's really good for our offense now. I feel as if the flow is really good."

The recent surge of Mech continued with a 17-point night, and Hannah Ronsiek nailed down the first double-double of her career with 13 points and 11 minutes – and she sat the final 7:31 of the second quarter with two fouls.

Those were tough minutes as she already had seven points and five rebounds in about 12 minutes of play.

"I think I just have to be really conscious of not getting those fouls, and I ended up getting them on offense instead of defense. I think I ended up with just one more foul," Ronsiek said. "Just being really intentional and staying disciplined and not going for the reaches.

"It was hard watching. I have been kind of wanting a double-double all year. I was like, come on."

Then again, the stretch in the third when the Rams lost track of Wyoming's gunners was hard, too. Mellema doesn't often score 20 in a game, but when she does, it's against Colorado State. Instead of crumbling, Colorado State regrouped. And they did it with a balance the team has been searching for all season.

There were times at the midpoint of the season when it was Hofschild or bust offensively. On this giv4en afternoon, her ability to create was an integral part of creating a team which is proving to have options.

More importantly, options with confidence to be aggressive offensively, coming on a day when it felt a bit like the season was in the balance.

"Absolutely. It's just the way it sets up," Williams said. "Obviously a very tough stretch with New Mexico, Vegas and Wyoming, and Wyoming is coming off a bye. That's also impressive by our kids. To keep the momentum going …You want to play really well going into March, going into the tournament. We just haven't really found that traction so to speak. It's kind of come and gone at times this year. But I think the last two games, although we didn't win at Vegas, we played well, and we played tough.

"We're starting to flip those finishes. Tonight was a really tough, competitive effort. That next level of compete with you have to have this time of year, we're finding it."

Doing so when it seemed all was lost. It wasn't. Just a lead, not the way.

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Marta Leimane

Sydney Mech

Hannah Ronsiek

Sanna Ström

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McKenna Hofschild

Marta Leimane

Sydney Mech

Hannah Ronsiek

Players Mentioned

McKenna Hofschild

Marta Leimane

Sydney Mech

Hannah Ronsiek

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