The season has started, and Colorado State women’s basketball took the court with a home opener against Colorado Christian University. The Rams won against the Cougars 77-42. 

The Rams began the game with a small lineup, only having 12 players on the roster. They took an early lead and made free throws with only 15 seconds taken off the clock, taking it 6-0. The Rams defense looked great, as they stole the ball from the Cougars three times in the first quarter. CSU’s offense looked well-balanced and played good team ball. 

CCU seemed to be running a 3-2 zone in the first few minutes of the first quarter, but CSU was prepared, as the opposing plays slipped through the holes. CSU still struggled on the boards, though, allowing several defensive rebounds for CCU.

The Cougars showed a new look on defense but didn’t seem to be playing any man-to-man in the first quarter. Colorado State, however, wasn’t fazed, but they only made nine of 18 shots, ending the quarter with a 50 field goal percentage. CSU got the lead in first with 22-10.

In the second quarter, the Cougars came out aggressive, forcing the Rams to take fast shots. The Rams did not handle this pressure well and ended up in a slump quickly. The Cougars took advantage of this and made four points before head coach Ryun Williams called a timeout.

The Cougars brought in all the help to stop Colorado State from making an easy bucket but allowed the Rams to shoot 3-pointers most of the quarter.”

The Rams defense stayed strong, but the Cougars figured out ways to score. The Rams were making it tough to get in the paint due to collapsing on the Cougars’ bigs when they tried to get the ball, forcing turnovers.

After a foul by CCU’s Tessa Hauser, there was a noticeable change favored toward the Rams as they made free throws. CCU only added six more points for the remainder of the half compared to CSU’s 14 point addition. The Rams headed to the locker room leading 38-23.

CSU’s talent was apparent with 12 assists in the first half and eight in the first quarter alone. The Rams also took care of the ball well with only two turnovers in the first half compared to the Cougars’ eight.

The Rams came out of halftime pumped, as the third started with a deep three from 6-foot-1-inch Rams forward Kendyll Kinzer immediately, pushing the lead even further. The Cougars played some man-to-man defense, but the Rams were ready with the pick and roll and back-doored the Cougars when all their focus was on the ball.

The Rams seemed to have taken the cover off the hoop in the third quarter and made eight of 15 shots and ended with a 53.3 field goal percentage. The Rams won on the boards with 10 rebounds in the quarter over the Cougars’ seven. The Rams showed that they share the ball to anyone with six assists in the quarter, three of those coming from 5-foot-5-inch guard McKenna Hofschild. The quarter ended with the Rams almost 30 points ahead at 61-33.

The fourth quarter began at a fast pace, but the Rams tried to stay collected. They wasted the clock and made sure they took smarter shots to finish off the game. The Rams did not make it easy for the Cougars to score at all with CCU going 3-15 on shots, but the Rams seemed to have been stopped in bringing the ball into the paint.

The Cougars brought in all the help to stop Colorado State from making an easy bucket but allowed the Rams to shoot 3-pointers most of the quarter. Rams ended with four of the 10 3-pointers made, which ended up being more then the Cougars could score in the quarter.

Anna Prim looked amazing coming off the bench as a freshman and ended the game with the most points for the Rams with 14 points and three assists.

The second-leading scorer was a key rebounder for the Rams; Cali Clark only missed two of the eight shots she took. Clark and Karly Murphy both ended with six rebounds in the game.

The women’s squad will be back in Moby Arena this Friday at 5:30 p.m. to take on the University of Northern Colorado Bears.

Reach Bryson Schminke at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @brysons81 .