Taking the Chance and Running with it
Leimane the key to unlock elevated team play on both sides of the ball
Braidon Nourse
Partly by necessity and partly by design, Ryun Williams has had to shuffle lineups often this season.
Whether it was due to injury or trying to play to strengths in terms of matchups against certain teams, the Colorado State women’s basketball starting lineup has shuffled greatly as the season has progressed.
In fact, during the conference schedule, the starting five has changed between every game except one up until the beginning of February.
But Williams may have found something with one of his newest tweaks: inserting sophomore guard Marta Leimane into the opening five.
Since then, the lineup of McKenna Hofschild, Leimane, Hannah Ronsiek, Sanna Ström and Sydney Mech has remained the same for all six games.
The first time he did so was at home against San Diego State just more than three weeks ago. In her first start, Leimane impressed on the defensive end right away, taking away driving lanes at will and even grabbing two steals in one minute in the first quarter.
The Aztecs put up just three points the entire frame.
On that day, Leimane talked about wanting to leave an impression for her first start. Her goal was to take the opportunity and run with it. A chance Williams wanted to give her a little earlier in the season but couldn’t because of a lingering injury which limited her minutes in the games leading up to San Diego State.
She didn’t fill up the scoring column that day with a total of six, but her individual effort and its effect on the rest of the team’s defense was more than enough to keep her in the starting five. Allowing just three points in an opening quarter is an oddity, especially against a formidable team like the Aztecs. Leimane played a big part in it — at least Ronsiek thought so.
“I think it allowed her to find her confidence,” Ronsiek said. “It only takes one game and once you get that one game, it’s kind of the snowball effect and you’re full steam ahead. In that game, I think for her, getting more minutes and more reps, and getting stops on defense has really helped her confidence. We rely on her a lot defensively and I think that’s also helped her grow.”
Part of the reason the Rams have found such success on the defensive end on the floor is because other players can relax and play more comfortably.
That was something they’ve struggled with at times because opponents could get a mismatch, forcing either bigs to cover guards or vice versa. Leimane’s versatility and quickness has, for the time being, largely alleviated that issue.
“She’d been playing well for us all season, but I think where she really helps us is our defense,” Williams said. “She’s able to stay in front and guard some of the best guards in the conference. I think her defense takes the load off of us, too. Marta can defend a lot of players well, so that means we can put Sydney deeper in the paint where she’s more comfortable.”
Slowly, according to Leimane, her confidence did shoot up offensively as Ronsiek alluded. Whether it’s finding her 3-point shot, layups or pulling up in the midrange, the scoring aspect has slowly improved over the past five games.
You can see a fire in her eye and yeah, she’s a fun, special player.Ryun Williams
Then the breakout. At UNLV, she scored a career-high 22 points in a narrow 67-64 loss to the best team in the Mountain West. She followed that up with a 20-point performance against Wyoming. Most recently, she reset her career high again with 24 at Utah State last Saturday.
Since being a starter, Leimane has averaged 14.8 points per game. She had averaged 4.6 the whole season beforehand.
In some ways, she’s been primed over the past couple of years to step up in big moments and big games like that, drawing from her experience on the Latvian national team where she played in a FIBA European Championship game against France last summer. Just one more reason Williams admires Leimane’s mindset.
“She loves the big moments and she’s played some really big games before,” Williams said. “She’s represented Latvia for 3v3 and 5v5 and played in European Championships. She’s built for that kind of thing, and she lives for it. You can see a fire in her eye and yeah, she’s a fun, special player.”
While the scoring output is nice, what matters most to Leimane and the rest of the team is how many tallies are scratched in the win column as a result — four in Leimane’s six starts.
But she also feels it’s a reflection of what the entire team is doing, not just her offensive explosion or defensive proficiency.
“Winning is the best part, right? So, I feel like that’s a big point,” Leimane said. “I feel like we’ve been playing a little different, and I feel like we’re only getting better. All of us are more confident than in the beginning of the season. All of us are driving and shooting and taking shots we feel like we can. So, I think that’s really good.”
Offensively she’s fit right in with the other starters, too, particularly with other guards like Ronsiek and Hofschild.
Similar to how she unlocks possibilities on defense, she can fashion some effective looks as part of a three-member guard tandem.
While not exactly a volume shooter, Leimane can hit the 3 when she needs to, going for 43.8% from beyond the arc since starting. Driving for layups or hitting midrange shots is where she can really bother a defense, making 55% of her shots from within the arc.
“I just like the way they complement each other,” Williams said. “Especially the guards because (Leimane) is a very proficient driver like McKenna so we can spread things out that way. But she can also score, and you’ve seen that in the last few games too.”
The Swiss Army Knife-esque ability of Leimane to unravel the best of the Rams on both sides of the ball has definitely left a mark, as was the goal from the first time she found herself on the floor for an opening tip.
For Ronsiek, Leimane can be frustrating to have to go against in practice but is wonderful to wear the same jersey on game days.
Her ascension has also come at nearly the perfect time. With the Mountain West Tournament right around the corner, Leimane is like the Rams’ ace in the hole since other teams haven’t quite caught up with how exactly to slow all the pieces down at once.
“Teams have to respect her shot but she’s a drive-first player, but then they can’t let her shoot because she does that well. It’s also very hard to guard her hesitation, we all know about that,” Ronsiek laughed. “In the past, she wasn’t as aggressive offensively, so I don’t think she was on other teams’ scout as heavily. So, I feel like teams were shocked by how well she’s been scoring.”
With Leimane seeming to be one of the last pieces necessary to a complete lineup worthy of making a run at the tournament, the starting five has not changed since she entered.
That could end up paying dividends as the group continues to gain comfort and familiarity with each other after being mixed and matched throughout the first half of conference play.
Naturally, there is a little bit of pressure for the sophomore, but it’s “good pressure.” For Leimane, the key is to let the morale take over and prove Williams’ decision to start her was the right one.
“You can’t just go in a game thinking you don’t care. You need to have that pressure,” Leimane said. “But I’m confident in myself, I feel like everyone is confident in themselves as well. And I feel like everybody understands, ‘How can we play?’ Or, ‘What can you add to the team?’ I feel like the team's confidence is a little better than it has been in the past.”
A change the team has absolutely embraced.