It’s a tale as old as time. 

A rivalry that spans over the state border. An opponent a team holds itself to a higher standard for. 

When Colorado State women’s basketball plays Wyoming, the Rams want to hold that standard. But sometimes they learn what it costs when they don’t. 

The Rams fell to the Cowgirls 58-55, leading only twice throughout the game.

“Every possession is the most important possession,” head coach Ryun Williams said. “We’re learning that.” 

The lesson comes with history attached. CSU had entered the matchup leading the series 60-55, a rivalry that began in 1975. 

Last season, the Rams swept Wyoming in their two matchups. But now with CSU in the Pac-12 and Wyoming still in the Mountain West, the teams are down to one meeting a year. 

51 years into the rivalry, it asks a new question: Does it mean more now that there is only one shot at a Border War win?

“If you were going to tell me we have 15 more shots at the basket than them, and we win the turnover battle by 10, I bet a lot of money we’re winning that basketball game,” Williams said. “But that’s not how this game went.” 

That was the story for the Rams tonight. On paper, they seemed ready — they ranked 39th in the nation in 3-point percentage, making 37.9% of their 3-pointers coming in, while their opponents shot at 23.9%. But in the game, they faltered. 

Camryn Runner entered the matchup averaging 18.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and assists per game. However, tonight the flow was off. 

“Cam had a really difficult night tonight,” Williams said. “You could tell our kids played tight all night. The kids we lean on that obviously play a ton of minutes, they just never really got into the flow of that basketball tonight.”

Even with the Rams winning the points in the paint battle 24-10 and holding Wyoming to only 28 points in the second half, they couldn’t finish. The shots CSU wanted were there, but many were missed — and the Cowgirls were making sure of it.

They hit their first 3-pointer of the night and kept funding every chance on the glass they could against CSU. Wyoming found 21 rebounds to CSU’s 17 halfway through. 

“I think we have to play with more weight,” Sophie Sene said. “We’ve been struggling a lot with defensive boards, and I think today that made us lose the game. We have to box out.” 

Even with the game not being in the Rams’ favor, Sene found her way with eight rebounds and 10 points, including a layup assisted by McKenna Murphy that put the Rams in front during the third. 

“I was just trying to help my team,” Sene said. “I’ve been playing really badly lately and I just wanted to show up for my team today.” 

One player who has become a rising star on the court is Murphy. She scored the Rams’ first point of the night and finished the night off with a career-best 21 points on 8-for-19 shooting.

“I’m definitely trying to take advantage of the matchup and score down low,” Murphy said. “Coaches definitely want me to help the team in that aspect, score the ball where I can. So not only shooting the three, but getting downhill.” 

Murphy has grown this season, and that growth may just blossom into the type of the leader CSU needs right now. 

“I was really proud of Murphy,” Williams said. “She was aggressive trying to score the ball. There was a lot of conviction in how she went about her game tonight, where other kids were probably way too hesitant.” 

With that came adjustments as the night went along, trying to do anything to prevent what turned out to be an eventual loss.

“They were setting screens really low and getting easy curls and easy kick out threes,” Murphy said. “So it was just making defensive adjustments and staying strong.” 

For them, it worked for a play. CSU regained their lead with 7:37 left in the fourth, before the Cowgirls took it right back. 

“We just didn’t execute the screen defense correctly,” Williams said. “Give them credit. They made the shots.” 

Wyoming’s Norah Clark led their squad with 26 points on the night. 

“We kept battling, even if we were down,” Sene said. “We still tried to get back and punch them.” 

CSU, still five games into the season, is trying to find who they are individually as playmakers, but who is the individual that is going to step up. 

“We’re still looking for some leadership out there, who’s going to galvanize our group,” Williams said. “We kind of had a lot of just staring around tonight.”

The green and gold still lead the all-time series — but when a rivalry is only one night a year, the standard is high and so is the price of falling short of it. 

“This is a good game to have early in the year,” Williams said. “It stinks to lose it, but hopefully they’ll learn from it. We’ve got to live with this thing all year now … That’ll maybe toughen us up a little bit.”