Colorado State knew coming into their final non-conference matchup of the season against Mississippi State that a win would have to be fought for.
With the help of a dominant 25 point performance from star point guard McKenna Hofschild, the Rams did all they could to fight the battle as much as they could. Unfortunately for the green and gold, their fight brought them up just short, falling 75-82.
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Entering the 4th quarter with a lead, disaster struck for CSU. The Rams allowed the Bulldogs to go on a 9-0 run to take the lead, and couldn’t find any answers to get back into the game.
“When we look back at (this game), that’s going to be kind of a gut punch,” coach Ryun Williams said. “We just started letting them get what we were supposed to take away. (Debreasha Powe) bangs home a 3; (Jessika Carter) got going a little bit. … You’ve got to keep it scoring on that team. You’ve got to keep scoring. We had some opportunities at the rim, some pretty simple shots that to beat a team like this, you’ve got to make them.”
Fourth-quarter woes might be an understatement. The Rams went from hitting seemingly everything, including a Kendyll Kinzer halftime buzzer- beater to ignite a lively Moby Arena, to shooting just 26.7% from the field, 25% from the 3-point line, and 25% from the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs found their rhythm in the fourth quarter and didn’t let up until the clock hit zero. MSU shot 60% from the field, a vast improvement over their shooting up to that point (38.5% over the first three quarters).
The Bulldogs’ ticket to victory Wednesday night was undoubtedly the performance of Lauren Park-Lane, who had 33 points with 10 made 3-pointers, more than the entire Rams offense.
Williams praised the opposing guard for her career performance, but added that her success was part of the Rams’ game plan to stay competitive in the matchup.
“You can’t take it all away,” Williams said. “You just can’t. (Erynn Barnum) is a first-team all-SEC player, (Carter) is a WNBA player, (Jerkaila Jordan) is that as well. … If we would have given them everything tonight, there’s no way we’re probably beating that team. Park-Lane was going to have to make some shots and she did.”
The Bulldogs are far and away one of the most physical, paint-heavy teams CSU has faced thus far this season. In their previous matchup against Memphis, MSU scored 50 out of their 81 points in the paint.
In their game against the Rams, however, they scored just 16. A huge part of that success was Kinzer, who put up a season-high 18 points and kept the physical might of MSU at bay.
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“I learned to use what I have to my advantage, like my feet and my quickness,” Kinzer said. “I think that’s going to be big when I come across Wyoming and UNLV. I think this (non-conference play) really helped me practice that and get experience guarding those physical players.”
With this loss, CSU has finished non-conference play 9-2. While a loss isn’t how Williams would’ve preferred to end this part of the season, he had nothing but praise for how the team has performed since the beginning of the season.
“That was a really good non-conference schedule,” Williams said. “I think they’ve performed really well. They’ve risen to a lot of different challenges that we’ve put in front of them. Get rest, get some kind of reset a little bit, and let’s come back hungry to chase a championship. That’s the message.”
CSU will play their first conference matchup against San Diego State at 2:00 p.m. on Dec 30 in Viejas Arena. The Aztecs are 8-4 on the season with one non-conference game left to play.
Will Engle can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @willengle44.
