No matter how many shots CSU senior Meghan Heimstra blocked, she couldn’t stop Wyoming by herself.
The Cowgirls jumped out to a 13-0 lead and never trailed as they defeated the CSU women’s basketball team 65-51 Wednesday night in Moby.
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Heimstra blocked three shots in the game’s first six minutes, and finished with a career-high seven, which gave her 51 blocks for the season, a school record.
She also set a career high with 32 points, the second straight game in which she accomplished that feat.
“She was the one kid who could battle. I think Meghan single handedly, and the stats show it, kept us in the game,” CSU coach Ryun Williams said. “Without Meghan I would have hate to see what the score would have been.”
CSU trailed by as many as 17 in the first half, and continued its season-long trend of starting slowly.
The Rams missed their first 10 shots before Heimstra’s layup with 11:32 left in the half got the team on the board.
“We had a hard time scoring early on,” Williams said. “Did not have the ‘bring it on’ mentality.”
Wyoming senior Chaundra Sewell took advantage of the Rams’ early offensive struggles, scoring 13 points in the first half. She finished with 17 for the game.
Momentum began to change after freshman Taylor Varsho made herself the second Ram to put points on the board with 5:31 remaining in the first half.
Varsho hit a three-pointer five minutes after entering the game and scored again shortly after on the fast break after a steal.
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“Coach always points at me, and says ‘do what you do,'” Varso said. “I’ll give him 100 percent. We need to win these games.”
Wyoming led 32-23 at halftime and scored the first five points of the second half to cement their lead.
The Rams offense did not give up, however.
CSU cut the lead to seven points with 5:29 remaining in the game on two Heimstra free throws, but the Cowgirls quickly extended the lead back to double digits.
Heimstra left the Moby Arena court for the last time with 20 seconds remaining in the game, exhausted, to a standing ovation and a hug from her coach.
“It means the world to me,” Heimstra said. “I think we have really started something for the future.”
Women’s Beat Reporter Haleigh Hamblin can be reached at sports@collegian.com.
