Colorado State women’s basketball hosted the University of San Francisco in Moby Arena Dec. 10, the third game in the team’s current five-game home stand. The Rams suffered their first home loss of the season, falling to the Dons 73-62.
It was the Rams’ first loss in Moby this season, having previously won every home game by at least 20 points. CSU moves to 6-4 on the season, while San Francisco improves to 9-2.
“We’ll grind it out and continue to get better. We’ll use this game to improve us.” -CSU head coach Ryun Williams
“We knew this was going to be a hard game, our whole non-conference schedule is hard for a reason,” head coach Ryun Williams said. “This loss isn’t the end of the world. (San Francisco is) a really good basketball team that’s going to contend for a conference championship.”
Prior to the game, the team honored guard McKenna Hofschild by presenting her with a ball that recognized her reaching 1,000 career points in the team’s previous game against the University of Denver.
There was seemingly a lid on the Rams’ basket through most of the first quarter, and San Francisco was able to jump out to an early lead. On their final score of the quarter, the Dons recorded four offensive rebounds before finally hitting a 3-point shot. At the end of the quarter, San Francisco led CSU 23-14.
Led by Hofschild, CSU mounted a comeback early in the second quarter, tying the score at 25 just four minutes into the quarter. The Dons turned the ball over on traveling calls four times in the first half of the quarter, aiding the Rams in their comeback. CSU outscored USF 20-10 in the quarter to take a 34-33 halftime lead.
The two teams traded blows throughout the third quarter, but the Dons began to build a lead towards the end of the quarter. San Francisco outscored CSU 21-17 through the quarter to take a 54-51 lead.
San Francisco expanded their lead throughout the fourth quarter, building to a 67-57 lead with just under three minutes remaining in the game. San Francisco was able to hold off the Rams and won the game 73-62.
“I think the thing that really hurt us was the turnovers; we created offense for them,” Williams said. “The turnover bug really got us — 19 points off of 14 turnovers, it’s going to be hard to win. That was the difference.”
Williams received a technical foul late in the final quarter for arguing with the refs.
“I was more frustrated with the game as a whole; those are really good officials,” Williams said after the game.
CSU will continue their homestand Dec. 19 by hosting Regis University. The NCAA Division II program out of Denver is 4-5 so far this season.
“We’ll grind it out and continue to get better,” Williams said. “We’ll use this game to improve us.”
Reach Kaden Porter at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @kqporter5.