Fighting through new adversity: The Rams’ telling tale to open the 2024-25 season.

Colorado State women’s basketball trailed 37-25 to San Francisco at the 3:22 mark of the third quarter, with seemingly little hope to climb back due to night-long shooting woes.

With the spark of the Ronsiek sisters, Emma and Hannah, this younger Rams team was able to grit out a 52-47 win through a veteran-led-fourth-quarter comeback.

Emma Ronsiek did not take a single rest Monday night, as she played all 40 minutes and led the team with 18 points, with seven of those coming in that fourth quarter.

Emma Ronsiek was being repeatedly double-teamed in the post throughout the game, yet she was able to both score while doubled and find the open shooter working off of the double-team.

“I really pride myself on being able to pass it out of a double team,” Emma Ronsiek said. “I think teams are going to have a hard time dealing with us when we do have shooters. … I think we’re just going to keep getting better as the year goes on and it’s gonna be really exciting.”

From a shooting perspective, there is not much room for excitement for the Rams. They struggled heavily tonight, shooting 29% from the field, and 30% from beyond the arc. However, the Dons were even colder and a large part due to some great Ram defense all night, as San Francisco shot 27% from the field and 21% from three.

“A little slow? That was molasses slow,” said coach Ryun Williams, when asked about the team’s slow start tonight. “I am concerned. We have to find some easier offense. We had some good looks early. I think we played a little unsettled when the ball didn’t go in early, and those were 3-point shots. We’ve got to get some stuff to the basket earlier in the game to get settled.”

Despite night-long shooting struggles, a come-from-behind win showing the toughness of the squad gives the team hope and a viewpoint to come out of this game happy about.

“I’m proud of this win, this is a great victory for our basketball team,” Williams said. “We had to win with the toughness and the defensive end. … A lot of things I think we learnt, and it’s a great first victory.”

CSU started the fourth quarter on an 9-2 run prior to the first timeout of the fourth coming off of two 3s from both Ronsiek sisters and a Brooke Carlson layup. 

The Rams would later outscore the Dons 13-8, emphasizing defense to hold USF to 5-for-17 from the field in the fourth.

“We let them go on a little bit of a run in the third, which I thought was cause for concern based on how our offense was going,” Emma Ronsiek said. “I thought we really stuck it into that fourth quarter and got some really good stops.”

Carlson continued tonight to be a net positive in scarce minutes off the bench, chipping in six points and two steals that seemingly always came at a perfect time.

“Brooke came in and did a great job,” Williams said. “She just plays with a different gear and she puts a little different pressure on the defense, and so we had to try something, and maybe we need a little more of that.”

Half of CSU’s eight 3-balls tonight came in the fourth quarter, including a spot-up corner one from Sanna Strom off of an Emma Ronsiek assist out of a double-team.

The clincher was the lead-taking shot from the transfer guard Hannah Simental with 2:53 remaining to give the Rams a 46-43 lead and a lead that would remain for good.

“Not all wins are going to be pretty wins,” Hannah Ronsiek said. “That one was not a super pretty game to watch, but a win is a win.”

While this CSU team will be looking for contributions from the fab five freshmen as the year goes on, a season-opening comeback win behind the arms of key veterans and experienced players in Williams’ system gives reassurance that this team has the power to compete on every given night.

“We were a little outmanned on the glass, but we really fought,” Williams said. “I’m really happy with how we guarded, because that’s where I thought was the weakest part of our game, but obviously it’s on the other end, that ball has got to get in the basket more.”

It is very rare for a team to look their best in their first game of the year, so to start by adding a tally in the win column regardless of how the win came about is a special feat to open a new season.

With this win, the Rams have now won seven-straight season openers dating back to 2018, and take the lead in the all-time series with the Dons 5-4.

CSU welcomes future Pac-12 comrade Oregon State – coming off a 2024 Elite 8 appearance – at 5:30 p.m., on Friday in Moby Arena. 

Reach Devin Imsirpasic at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter at @DImsirpasic.