Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
3-5
Northern Colorado
2-6
Rams Snap Slide, Down Bears, 59-48
12/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2006
Behind a 19-point effort from freshman guard Kelly Jo Mullaney, the Colorado State women's basketball team defeated the Northern Colorado Bears, 59-48, at Butler-Hancock Pavilion snapping a three-game losing streak and improving the Rams record to 3-5 on the season and pushing their streak of consecutive victories over UNC to 15. With the loss, the Bears drop to 2-6.
Northern Colorado opened up the contest 2-0, and after hitting a couple of three's, sandwiched by Colorado State jumpers, UNC opened up an 8-4 lead, three minutes into the contest.
The Bears exchanged buckets with Kelly Jo Mullaney, who scored six straight points for the Rams, and following a layup by freshman Emily Neal at the 11:26 mark, the Rams trailed by just one, 13-12.
The Bears leading scorer, Heather Barbour, responded with six straight to push the UNC lead to a game-high seven points, 19-12.
However, the Rams fired back with a 16-4 run to end the first half and Colorado State enjoyed a 28-23 advantage at the half. The Rams opened up the second half with a 5-0 run and took a 10-point, 33-23, lead with 16:21 remaining in the contest.
Northern Colorado forward Tina Fox scored six of the first eight second-half points for the Bears to keep them in the contest, but after a pair of buckets from freshman Juanise Cornell and Mullaney, the Rams took a 42-29 lead with 11:36 left to play.
From that point UNC responded with a 10-0 run of their own to cut the CSU lead to 42-39 at the 7:23 mark, but Colorado State answered by rattling off eight straight points to keep the Bears at arm's length.
Following a 7-0 run by the Bears that cut the lead to 50-45, the Rams sealed the victory with seven straight from the foul line. Senior Marilyn Moulton drained the free throw after being fouled and hitting a layup, and Neal hit four free throws, with less than 26 second remaining. Sara Hunter's pair of free throws with 7.3 seconds remaining capped the scoring for both sides.
Mullaney led the Rams with 19 points and only one turnover in the contest, after struggling with just five points and five turnovers in a home loss to Denver the previous contest. The 5-8 guard also recorded her first collegiate block, one of two Rams' swats in the contest.
Moulton led the Rams with 10 rebounds, her fourth double-digit rebounding game of the season, and added eight points. Senior Molly Nohr and Neal also netted eight points each, and Hunter added seven points for the Rams.
Northern Colorado had four players score in double-figures, led by Whitley Cox who scored 11. Barbour, Fox and guard Sara Hemmings each checked in with 10 points in the contest.
The Rams outrebounded the Bears 33-28 in the contest while shooting at a 44.9 percent clip and holding UNC to 34.7 percent from the floor.
Next up Colorado State plays host to San Jose State. The Rams and Spartans tip off at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon from Moby Arena. The game will be available via streaming video on CSURams.com, as well as on the radio on 600 AM KCOL.
