A stalwart career no doubt.
Finishing with a season-high 14 assists in Colorado State’s 92-56 win over South Dakota Mines, McKenna Hofschild passed Ellen Nystrom for the most career assits at CSU.
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Hofschild’s 590 assists and counting, bumps Nystrom’s 584 down the list.
At this point 20 points and 14 assists almost seems routine for Hofschild, but on the other hand for Marta Leimane, finishing with career-highs is anything but that.
While Hofschild has proved time and time again that she is the driving force behind the Rams’ lethal attack, sometimes you need something that you can keep on hand that might be life saving in times of need.
A Swiss Army knife perhaps, or maybe more fittingly a Latvian one.
“I think she proved tonight, she’s kind of a Swiss Army knife,” coach Ryun Williams said. “To be able to move her around a little bit is critical.”
Leimane — a native of Latvia — posted a career high in just about every statistical category. Her 18 points, five rebounds and four steals were the most she’s put up in a career, and were nothing short of crucial for the Rams.
Leimane played 34 minutes off the bench Tuesday night, second only to Hofschild.
“I was just excited to be on the floor,” Leimane said. “Get those steals and help the team as much as I can.”
Leimane’s four steals were just a part of the 13 that CSU ended the night with. Getting those steals and running the fast break was helpful in keeping the Rams afloat, especially in the first half where they struggled with their outside shot.
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The Rams started off the game shooting 2-of-12 from 3-point range and were in a 10-point game at the half. When you start a game off struggling with your shot, there’s one simple fix: keep on keeping on.
“I think just keep doing what you’re doing,” Kendyll Kinzer said. “Coach said in the locker room — we were 2-of-12 in the first half — and he said ‘we’ll change that’. I think him having the confidence in all of us to knock down those shots and he’s not concerned about it at all, he knew we were going to change it. So I think it really helps to know that he has confidence that we’ll turn it around.”
Confidence was the key in unlocking the shooting that the Rams were just waiting to unleash.
Looking like they might be in for a close-fought battle, the Rams found their shot and rode that to victory, finishing 12-of-24 from 3.
“Nice finish to that basketball game,” Williams said. “You had some really nice individual performances, that was good to see.”
Shooting wasn’t the only thing that the Rams struggled with against the Hardrockers. Guarding Piper Bauer appeared nearly impossible at times.
Finishing with a game-high 26 points, Bauer laced seemingly everything that left her hands. Kinzer said when a player like Bauer comes in shooting as hot as she did, it can catch the defense slightly off guard.
“I guess it can, but I feel like we prepared for her a lot in practice this week,” Kinzer said. “I don’t think that should have happened, probably. I think we had a really good game plan for her, so I think that’s one thing we’re definitely going to have to get better at — coach gave us a great game plan, we’ve just got to execute it.”
Colorado State’s (4-0) next opportunity to execute that game plan will be against San Francisco (2-4). Tip off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Nov. 26 in San Francisco, California.
Reach Damon Cook at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @dwcook2001.
