FORT COLLINS — The crowd noise was deafening inside Moby Arena on Wednesday, and the Colorado State women’s basketball team nearly pulled off one of its biggest wins of the season.
Before thousands of students from the Poudre and Thompson school districts for the program’s annual Education Day, the Rams took a four-game winning streak into a showdown with Mountain West Conference-leading San Diego State.
After overcoming a slow start that put them behind early, the Rams rallied in the second half and briefly took the lead only to miss multiple shots at the rim in the closing minutes and allow the Aztecs to hold on for a 46-44 win.
“It was a hard loss to swallow,” CSU assistant coach Rico Burkett said. “Obviously we didn’t play great basketball from an offensive standpoint, but we did enough things to give ourselves an opportunity to win.
“And then down the stretch, in those types of games, it takes players to make plays, and we had some golden opportunities to finish at the rim. We had some opportunities to finish possessions, and we just came up short.”
The loss takes nothing away from what the Rams have done this season. They are now 17-5 overall and 8-3 in conference play. They had won 10 of their previous 12 before Wednesday’s game against San Diego State, which was the beginning of a tough stretch for the Rams where they will see the top teams in the conference multiple times in the next few weeks.
To continue to be competitive, the Rams will rely on their stifling defense that they put on display Wednesday. The Rams entered the game against the Aztecs as one of the top 15 teams in the nation defensively, holding opponents to 35.8% from the field.
They held SDSU to 34% and only 46 points, a necessary attribute as the Rams only shot 30.5% from the field themselves.
Not only did the Rams hold the Aztecs without a made 3-pointer, but they held SDSU’s top three scorers to 5-for-23 from the field. In the end, however, the defensive effort wasn’t enough to overcome a slow start in which CSU scored only three points in the first 10 minutes.
“We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole early, where we just, I felt like we were a little deer-in-headlights, playing a little too tentative and they were kind of the aggressor and they kind of punched us in the face,” Burkett said. “But to the kids’ credit, I think they did a great job just kind of settling in and balancing it out.”
Indiana transfer Lexus Bargesser has led the Rams offensively this season, and she did so again Wednesday. She entered the contest averaging 15.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
After scoring only five points in the first half, she scored nine in the second to finish with 14 points to go along with five rebounds. Her buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the first half cut the Aztecs’ lead to 18-14 at the break.
Sophomore guard Brooke Carlson also had a strong game against the Aztecs, scoring 13 points while grabbing four rebounds and blocking two shots. In her second season with the program, she continues to be a heavy contributor offensively while also improving her defensive game.
“I feel like I just try to do what I can do for my teammates,” Carlson said. “Whether it’s bringing energy if I’m not making shots or getting it done on the defensive end. So, whatever I can do to help our team be the best that we can be is what I’m going to go out there and do.”
Kloe Froebe, the team’s second-leading scorer, had a team-high 10 rebounds against the Aztecs while scoring six points.
The Rams’ pair of games this week against the conference’s top two teams will continue Saturday when they play at UNLV in a nationally televised game at 1 p.m. on FS1.