Seven points. That was the distance the CSU women’s basketball team came within from a 1-1 record against Mountain West second place Fresno State for the season.

After outscoring the Bulldogs 28-22 in the second half, the Rams fell to 0-2 on their two-game road swing against Fresno State with a 42-49 final and 56-71 against New Mexico.

In the first half, Fresno State outscored CSU 27-14, but that did not discourage CSU. Coming into the second half shooting 25 percent, the Rams shot 50 percent from the field in the second frame to lessen the gap.

“I think we ran them in the second half,” Freshman Taylor Varsho said. “I think we pushed the ball more and executed better shots.”

Now 9-17 overall and 5-8 in the conference, CSU struggled to finish the shots with only junior forward Sam Martin scoring in double figures.

That didn’t hamper the team’s defensive effort, as the Rams held Fresno State to 27.7 percent shooting from the field.

Martin put up 16 points on the night and grabbed 8 rebounds in 35 minutes.

“I got a lot of lay-ups in the second half and thats how I was able to put up the shots,” Martin said. “I think we saw a lot we can work on tonight… need to play with more earge.”

Continuing to focus on the offensive aggression and the support during rotations, CSU coach Ryun Williams is focusing on competing for a seed in the MW tournament and matching the opponents efforts.

“Looking back at the last 11 minutes and 30 seconds of the first, we didn’t get the shots off and were unable to compete against them,” Williams said. “We stopped scoring. (We) need to find a way to be productive.”

Senior Moult Rosie scored 14 points to lead Fresno State while junior Taylor Thompson put in 11 points and five rebounds.

CSU will now return to Moby for its final two home games of the season against Boise State Saturday and Wyoming next Wednesday.

“Were coming into the next three games,” Martin said. “There are capable wins for us.”

A win against Boise State would give CSU a chance to improve on its 13-17 record from last year.

“I know we can compete and win against Boise at Moby,” Varsho said. “Hopefully we can get the W.”