Colorado State University Athletics
Thursday, December 28
Fort Collins, CO
7 p.m. MT
Colorado State
8-4, 0-1MW
58
vs
62
Boise State
7-5, 1-0MW
1
2
3
4
F
Boise State
13
11
20
18
62
Colorado State
19
13
10
16
58
Rams drop conference opener to Boise State, 62-58, despite Colaivalu’s career night
12/28/2017 10:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball
CSU paced by Grace Colaivalu’s 26 points, the most by any Ram in a single game this season
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Despite a 26-point performance from freshman guard Grace Colaivalu, the Colorado State women's basketball team fell to the Boise State Broncos, 62-58, from Moby Arena on Thursday in the two teams' Mountain West opener.
Colaivalu's 26 points are a new career/season high, and are the most in a single game by any Ram this season. The freshman tallied her 26-spot on 8-for-13 shooting from the floor (6-for-6 in the first half) and 9-for-11 shooting from the free throw line. Junior guard Sofie Tryggedsson scored nine points, as did senior guard Hannah Tvrdy, who added six rebounds.
Colorado State (8-4. 0-1 MW) finished the game as the better shooting team, topping Boise State (7-5, 1-0 MW) in field goal shooting, 38.8 percent (19-for-49) to 33.3 percent (20-for-60). However, CSU's shooting dropped substantially from the first to second halves. The Rams shot 50 percent in the first half, but dropped to 26.1 percent in the second half. Conversely, the Broncos improved from 26.5 percent to 42.3 percent. Despite shooting less efficiently than CSU, Boise State finished the contest with a 13-2 offensive rebounds advantage and scored 10 more second chance points.
Colorado State took a 32-24 lead to halftime, but shot just 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) in the third quarter as Boise State slowly chipped away the lead. Colaivalu made the first of the two, stretching CSU's lead to 36-26 with just before the eight-minute mark in the period. However, the Rams did not make their second of the period – also by Colaivalu – until the 5:46 mark and then did not convert a field goal attempt for the remainder of the period. Boise State tied the game twice in the third – once at the 3:08 mark and once at the 57-second mark – before taking a 44-42 edge to the final quarter.
Tryggedsson opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer and made a pair of free throws to give Colorado State a 47-44 lead with 8:28 to play. Following that run, Boise State leading scorer Riley Lupfer responded with a pair of triples over the next two minutes and the Broncos' Joyce Harrell added a layup to put the Broncos ahead for good. The Rams pulled within 57-56 on another Tryggedsson three with just over a minute to go, but were forced to foul late and unable to come up with the equalizing shot.
IN THEIR WORDS
Colorado State head coach Ryun Williams
On CSU's effort plays:
"There were a lot of good effort plays out there. That's what this team needs. We need extra possessions. But it should become contagious and build some enthusiasm with that lineup that's on the floor. There were handfuls of plays like that that we made, but I thought defensively we could have been a lot better tonight than we were. We could have been better on the glass – we gave up some (offensive rebounds). This group put themselves in a position to win the game against a really good basketball team .They've got some experience out there. The ball was in their experienced players' hands late – it went to (Riley) Lupfer, it went to (Shalen) Shaw, and they make good decisions. They made some big plays."
On the short turnaround before Saturday's game against San Jose State:
"The maturity of this team will be tested. The leadership of this team will be tested. Everybody's got the short turnaround. We're fortunate that we get to stay at home. But we can't play poorly on Saturday because we lost tonight. It's a long 18-game schedule. It's long. You're going to lose some games. It's not the first time we've lost at home in conference play. It's on to the next one. That's the good thing about basketball is that you get a short turnaround. We'll come to the gym tomorrow and put a plan together to beat San Jose State. It's up to these kids individually how they want to move on from this game."
Freshman guard Grace Colaivalu
On fouling out in the fourth quarter:
"(It's unfortunate) to be taken out of a game because of silly fouls. A lot of those fouls were just on me and just because of decisions I made poorly."
On her scoring mentality:
"We just had to have an aggressive mindset coming into this game. You always need to score more points in our game, so you always do what you can to score and try to win the game."
NOTES
- Freshman guard Grace Colaivalu's 17 points at the end of the first half were already good enough to eclipse her previous career/season best. She previously had 16 points against Prairie View A&M on Dec. 18.
- Before Colaivalu's 26 points on Thursday night, the previous high scoring performance this season was by fellow freshman guard Lore Devos. The Kortrijk, Belgium native tallied 25 points against Idaho in the Rams' season opener.
- Colaivalu has now been CSU's top scorer in 33 percent (four) of the Rams' 12 games this season.
UP NEXT
The Colorado State women's basketball team continues its opening week of Mountain West play this Saturday at home against the San Jose State Spartans. Opening tip from Moby Arena is set for 2 p.m. MT.
Colaivalu's 26 points are a new career/season high, and are the most in a single game by any Ram this season. The freshman tallied her 26-spot on 8-for-13 shooting from the floor (6-for-6 in the first half) and 9-for-11 shooting from the free throw line. Junior guard Sofie Tryggedsson scored nine points, as did senior guard Hannah Tvrdy, who added six rebounds.
Colorado State (8-4. 0-1 MW) finished the game as the better shooting team, topping Boise State (7-5, 1-0 MW) in field goal shooting, 38.8 percent (19-for-49) to 33.3 percent (20-for-60). However, CSU's shooting dropped substantially from the first to second halves. The Rams shot 50 percent in the first half, but dropped to 26.1 percent in the second half. Conversely, the Broncos improved from 26.5 percent to 42.3 percent. Despite shooting less efficiently than CSU, Boise State finished the contest with a 13-2 offensive rebounds advantage and scored 10 more second chance points.
Colorado State took a 32-24 lead to halftime, but shot just 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) in the third quarter as Boise State slowly chipped away the lead. Colaivalu made the first of the two, stretching CSU's lead to 36-26 with just before the eight-minute mark in the period. However, the Rams did not make their second of the period – also by Colaivalu – until the 5:46 mark and then did not convert a field goal attempt for the remainder of the period. Boise State tied the game twice in the third – once at the 3:08 mark and once at the 57-second mark – before taking a 44-42 edge to the final quarter.
Tryggedsson opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer and made a pair of free throws to give Colorado State a 47-44 lead with 8:28 to play. Following that run, Boise State leading scorer Riley Lupfer responded with a pair of triples over the next two minutes and the Broncos' Joyce Harrell added a layup to put the Broncos ahead for good. The Rams pulled within 57-56 on another Tryggedsson three with just over a minute to go, but were forced to foul late and unable to come up with the equalizing shot.
IN THEIR WORDS
Colorado State head coach Ryun Williams
On CSU's effort plays:
"There were a lot of good effort plays out there. That's what this team needs. We need extra possessions. But it should become contagious and build some enthusiasm with that lineup that's on the floor. There were handfuls of plays like that that we made, but I thought defensively we could have been a lot better tonight than we were. We could have been better on the glass – we gave up some (offensive rebounds). This group put themselves in a position to win the game against a really good basketball team .They've got some experience out there. The ball was in their experienced players' hands late – it went to (Riley) Lupfer, it went to (Shalen) Shaw, and they make good decisions. They made some big plays."
On the short turnaround before Saturday's game against San Jose State:
"The maturity of this team will be tested. The leadership of this team will be tested. Everybody's got the short turnaround. We're fortunate that we get to stay at home. But we can't play poorly on Saturday because we lost tonight. It's a long 18-game schedule. It's long. You're going to lose some games. It's not the first time we've lost at home in conference play. It's on to the next one. That's the good thing about basketball is that you get a short turnaround. We'll come to the gym tomorrow and put a plan together to beat San Jose State. It's up to these kids individually how they want to move on from this game."
Freshman guard Grace Colaivalu
On fouling out in the fourth quarter:
"(It's unfortunate) to be taken out of a game because of silly fouls. A lot of those fouls were just on me and just because of decisions I made poorly."
On her scoring mentality:
"We just had to have an aggressive mindset coming into this game. You always need to score more points in our game, so you always do what you can to score and try to win the game."
NOTES
- Freshman guard Grace Colaivalu's 17 points at the end of the first half were already good enough to eclipse her previous career/season best. She previously had 16 points against Prairie View A&M on Dec. 18.
- Before Colaivalu's 26 points on Thursday night, the previous high scoring performance this season was by fellow freshman guard Lore Devos. The Kortrijk, Belgium native tallied 25 points against Idaho in the Rams' season opener.
- Colaivalu has now been CSU's top scorer in 33 percent (four) of the Rams' 12 games this season.
UP NEXT
The Colorado State women's basketball team continues its opening week of Mountain West play this Saturday at home against the San Jose State Spartans. Opening tip from Moby Arena is set for 2 p.m. MT.
Team Stats
BSU
CSU
FG%
.333
.388
3FG%
.190
.286
FT%
.643
.727
RB
46
31
TO
11
13
STL
7
6
Game Leaders
Pts
26
FGM
8
3FGM
1
FTM
9
Pts
9
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
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