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Strong start too little at Colorado
Rams fall to rival Buffaloes, 93-63
Nov. 19, 2008
By Danny Mattie BOULDER, Colo. – The Colorado State women’s basketball team played one of its best first halves in recent memory during the opening stanza against in-state rival Colorado on Wednesday, and hung in with arguably one of the biggest and most athletic teams the Rams will face this season. However, an early second-half scoring drought by the Rams helped Colorado push its lead to double digits and the Rams never got closer than 15 points for the rest of the contest. The Buffs used their momentum to push the lead to 34 points with a minute left in the game, eventually defeating the Rams by a 93-63 final in front of 3,588 fans at the Coors Events Center. “In the second half we came out flat and you can’t do that against a team like Colorado,” said Head Coach Kristen Holt. “You have to be ready to come out and play. I was pretty pleased with the first half, but the beginning of the second half was a big let-down for us and we couldn’t come back.” The Rams’ offense struggled to open the second half and the Buffs took advantage of CSU’s four-minute scoring drought, opening up an 18-point lead with an 11-0 run. Britney Minor snapped the CSU skid with a pair of free throws at the 15:56 mark. The Colorado lead held steady between 16 and 18 points as the two teams traded baskets over the next six minutes. However, from the 10:00 mark to the 5:29 mark, CU center Kara Richards outscored the Rams 15-4 to push the lead to 24 points, 78-54 with five minutes remaining in the game. CU outshot the Rams 57.1 percent to 34.2 percent in the second half, and hit 22-of-24 attempts from the free-throw line to keep the Rams at bay.
One bright spot for the Colorado State was the play of senior guard Kandy Beemer who led the team in scoring with 15 points on 6-for-12 shooting. Beemer also recorded four of the team’s 11 assists in the contest and pulled down two rebounds, while committing just one turnover in 33 minutes of action. “I thought that Kandy played very well tonight,” added Holt. “That is the best game that she has played at Colorado State.” Beemer led the Rams’ strong first half, scoring 10 points in the first 20 minutes. Sophomore guard Bonnie Barbee was right behind Beemer, pouring in 13 total points, eight in the first half. The Rams, who shot 40 percent or better in just seven contests a season ago, were 14-for-35 (40 percent) in the first half, and used a slight halftime rebounding edge (20-18), including nine offensive boards, to keep within seven points, 35-42 at halftime. Colorado’s duo of forward Brittany Spears and Richards combined for 49 of the team’s 93 points. Spears shouldered most of the load in the first half (15 points), while Richards took over with 18 in the second. CSU junior Devran Tanacan, playing in her first game since March 2007 at the University at Albany, led the Rams with nine rebounds in just 14 minutes of play. Minor added 11 points, while fellow senior Carine Reimink chipped in six points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Juanise Cornell also added seven rebounds, but was held scoreless for just the fifth time in 62 career games at CSU. The Rams return to the court Saturday when they play host to Idaho in their home opener. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. MT from Moby Arena. |
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