On the road Wednesday night at Boise State, the CSU women’s basketball team continued to make waves for the program as it set yet another record for the school in its most successful season in over a decade.
In the 71-51 win over the Broncos (14-10, 9-4 MW), the Rams (21-4, 13-1 MW) picked up their 21st overall victory on the season, but also rewrote a school record by defeating their 13th conference opponent this year.
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“I think what this record means to us is that every day we have something new that we can set for the school without even really recognizing it,” guard AJ Newton said. “We just take one game at a time and try to not think too far ahead and we just keep attacking each opponent, and what works for us as that we still kind of take that underdog role.”
Before ultimately finishing with a 20-point win, the Rams got off to a rough start and trailed by as many as nine points just four minutes into the game. After CSU made a jumper in the early minutes of the game, Boise State then held the Rams scoreless for five minutes until guard Ellen Nystrom was finally able to put up another shot and get the team going.
“It wasn’t the start that we usually have,” head coach Ryun Williams said. “I was kind of surprised by that. We were a little loose with the ball and just a little on edge and not all that prepared.”
Despite the early struggles, CSU came back in its true style, taking the lead 15 minutes into the game and never letting go of it.
“We started playing harder defense,” guard Gritt Ryder said. “In the beginning, nothing felt right and they just kept scoring. But then we just started shutting them down and that gave us confidence.”
Going into the second half, the Rams went on a 22-4 run and never looked back.
“Once we started playing and once we started attacking everything ended up okay,” Williams said.
Wednesday’s result awarded CSU its tenth-straight win heading into Saturday’s Border War matchup at Wyoming with a 3.5 game lead for the No. 1 spot atop the Mountain West. With the last two victories for the Rams being scrappy comeback wins and coming against both the second and third conference-ranked teams, the Rams’ potential for the Mountain West Conference title looks more optimistic than ever.
“We take one game at a time,” Ryder said. “But of course we’re looking forward to Vegas when it comes to that and well just take one round at a time.”
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Collegian Reporter Hannah Cornish can be reached at sports@collegian.com and on Twitter @Hmcornish.
