Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Colorado State
WSU hangs tough at Colorado State, but falls short
12/22/2013 11:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball
FORT COLLINS, Colo.--The Weber State women's basketball team hung tough in Fort Collins, Colorado, Sunday afternoon, falling to the Colorado State Rams, 59-54.
Senior forward Amanda Hughes spurred a late run to keep the Wildcats close late in the game after the Rams started to pull away thanks to some key Colorado State 3-pointers down the stretch.
Junior guard Gritt Ryder made a couple of big 3-pointers when the Wildcats looked poised to take the lead late. Ryder's threes kept the Rams at arm's-length in a game that the two teams fought back and forth throughout.
Weber State led the game at halftime, 24-22, but the Rams came out shooting early and often in the second half. Weber State led 34-30 five minutes into the second half before Colorado State went on a 10-0 run over the next six minutes.
It was a physical and defensive battle that featured a total of 35 turnovers. The Wildcats turned it over 16 times to the Rams' 19 turnovers.
Neither team shot well in the hard-fought game, the Wildcats shooting 32.7 percent while the Rams shot 33.3 percent from the floor.
Sophomores Jalen Carpenter, Regina Okoye and Dezz Ramos each scored eight points while freshman guard Deeshyra Thomas (coming off a nasty eye-injury) added seven points.
Weber State won the battle down low, outscoring Colorado State in the paint, 20-14. The Cats also took advantage of their improved transition game, scoring 10 fast-break points to the Rams' two. However, the Wildcats didn't take as much of an advantage as they would have liked of the Rams' 19 turnovers, scoring only 12 points off those turnovers to Colorado State's 13.
Junior Zakiyyah Shahid-Martin led the Cats with nine rebounds and tied Ram Sam Martin for the game-high in rebounds.
Weber State will again take a significant amount of time off during this holiday season before opening up conference play at Eastern Washington on January 2. The Wildcats will return home on January 9 for a matchup with Northern Colorado.
