The CSU women’s basketball team traveled across state lines into Laramie on Saturday looking for a Border War victory against Mountain-West rival Wyoming.
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However, the Rams weren’t able to find what they were looking for. CSU left the Arena Auditorium, also known as the Dome of Doom, with a 82-67 loss and an understanding of the venue’s nickname.
Unlike much of their season thus far, the Rams wasted no time getting things going early.
Immediate baskets from Hayley Thompson and Sam Martin gave CSU an 8-0 lead only two minutes into the game.
“It hurts your confidence when that wasn’t quite what the scouting report said,” Wyoming forward Chaundra Sewell said. “They were shooting lights out for the first four minutes and we just had to weather the storm.”
The first half couldn’t have been any more evenly matched, numerous tie scores and lead changes had all 4,053 people in attendance either on the edge of their seat or standing on their feet.
“They just kept matching us, that three-ball kept them in that first half,” CSU coach Ryun Williams said. “They will always have five great shooters on the floor at all times.”
Both Wyoming and CSU tallied six three’s in the first half, the final one coming from CSU’s Mandy Makeever, as she shot shot over two Wyoming defenders to barely beat the buzzer.
“It felt very very physical and close the whole time, when that girl hits the three at the end that doesn’t help it,” Wyoming’s Kayla Woodward said. “When they do make their little runs it gets hard, but we stuck with them.”
That shot brought the Rams within one at halftime, down 38-37, but would end up being the smallest deficit for the rest of the game.
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The Cowgirls started the second half on a 10-2 run, taking control of the MW matchup, and not looking back until after the game clock expired.
“Our coach reminded us that we were winning at halftime. We all kind of had our heads down, for whatever reason, we expected to come out and be leading by 10 points going into the locker room at halftime,” Sewell said. “But a one point lead is still a lead.”
Wyoming stretched its lead to 16 points while outscoring CSU 44-30 in the second half. It had four players scoring double digits, who accounted for 67 points. Sam Martin was the only Ram to score more than 10 points, as she posted up 30 for CSU.
The conference loss drops CSU to 6-14, 2-5 MW while Wyoming climbs to 17-4, 6-2 MW respectively.
“I liked the way we played, especially in the first, boy the chemistry was good,” Williams said. “Lot of positive things tonight.”
