Colorado State women’s basketball did not show signs of weakness Tuesday, winning 88-43 over South Dakota Mines in Moby Arena.
Defensively, they started the game with heavy pressure on SDM guards, making the Hardrockers’ ball movement disorganized.
The Rams scored first off a defensive breakaway by Hannah Ronsiek. She continued her 5-game steal streak and finished the game with three on the night. Her impact has made a significant difference for her teammates and for the game as well.
“Hannah is our girl defensively, like she knows what’s going on,” head coach Ryun Williams said. “For her to have a really good defensive performance tonight, and we asked her to guard different girls, so for her to be able to lead us, that’s where you win games. That’s why it’s so hard to take her off the floor, just because the trust factor is so high for that young lady.”
The Rams struggled from deep but showed poise otherwise in the second quarter. They relied more on generating production from defense, which was steals and blocks that then led to turnovers and points.
The third quarter of play is when things got out of hand for SDM. Defensive pressure was constant, and the Rams’ offense started to click with more consistency, especially for McKenna Murphy, a guard off the bench for the Rams.
“Murphy’s role is huge,” Williams said. “Her role keeps growing and growing, and she had a lot of big buckets in a lot of big games. Her confidence continues to grow, and it allows us to be comfortable for her to shoot the three off the bench. So, as the season goes on, this was really good to see.”
Murphy has been a crucial piece off the bench to start the season. Tuesday, she had a season high of 18 points and shot 54% from three, with the majority of points coming from the third quarter.
“The energy was great,” Murphy said. “Coach said that at halftime too (and) at the beginning of the game as well. For that message during halftime, I think that just changed the game for us. We were all excited celebrating each other’s successes, and then the energy just carried over.”
Most of the game was simply dominant, but the third quarter was a statement, with the Rams going on a 24-3 run at one point.
Lexus Bargesser, the leading scorer on the team this season, provided some mid-range buckets, which allowed for her teammates to shoot better from.
“Our chemistry has been high thus far, ” Kloe Froebe said. “And when things are going well offensively, you know, we kind of use our defense to be our offense, and so I think that explains how well we scored off of that.”
The Rams have a tough few games next, especially when they face undefeated Stanford for the Resorts World Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada.
They will look to continue utilizing their team chemistry that converts into high energy plays, which can change the course of the game.
Reach Jasper Griese at sports@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegianSpts.
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