Rams Outlast Roadrunners in Arizona State Classic Finale

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TEMPE, Ariz. – Sometimes they can't all be masterpieces, but a road win counts the same for the Colorado State women's basketball team which survived the last game of the Arizona State Classic, defeating UTSA 52-48 Sunday afternoon at the Desert Financial Arena.

Although the Rams entered the fourth quarter with a one-point lead, the Roadrunners retook the lead and expanded it to six points with 6:40 left in regulation. In CSU's next possession, the Rams grabbed two offensive rebounds to extend the possession, which ultimately ended with a McKenna Hofschild 3-pointer that ignited the final Rams' run. The lead flipped just under the two minutes mark with back-to-back CSU baskets. First, Karly Murphy had a contested layup underneath while draped by defenders and then Upe Atosu jumped the passing lane at midcourt for a steal and easy fastbreak finish. Up one with a minute and half left, the CSU defense held true and Murphy added three points to put the final touches on a 12-2 run that earned CSU's second win in as many days.

"We had some great shot making late," Williams said. "McKenna had a nice stretch. Karly made a big basket. These last two games weren't the prettiest road wins, but they are really good road wins. Our team loves to compete and we saw that in each of the past two games during the final stretches of the game on the defensive end. We just need to carry that over to the offensive end for the entirety of the contests. UTSA is a tough team. They struggle scoring, but they do not lack toughness. We can learn from the group and these past two games."

Murphy led the way offensively with 16 points and one rebound away from a double-double. Upe Atosu and McKenna Hofschild added 13 and 12 points, respectively, 18 of their points occurring in the second half. Atosu was 6-of-6 from the free throw line as a part of CSU's 12-of-15 from the charity strike compared to the Roadrunners 4 for 9 free-throw clip. On the boards, Cali Clark collected a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with her five points.

At the half, the game was knotted up at 23-all. Early in the second half, the Roadrunners pushed their lead to six twice, but the Rams similar to Saturday's game closed the third frame on a positive note. Hofschild, who at the time was still scoreless, drained a long jumper to get her game going and spark a 7-0 run to take their one-point lead to the fourth quarter.

Each team shot a pedestrian 29% from the field, while both also made just four 3s a piece out of 37 attempts. UTSA had the rebounding edge at 54 to 41. The main difference maker aside from the free throws was the turnover column in which the Rams forced 14 turnovers and turned them into 10 points. CSU had just eight turnovers that UTSA benefited just four points from.

The Rams will return home and play the next two games at Moby Arena, starting with a Wednesday 6 p.m. tip against Weber State.

For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball

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