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The Colorado State women’s basketball team clinched an unprecedented fourth consecutive outright Mountain West regular season championship with an 80-46 victory over the San Diego State Aztecs on Saturday from Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena.
This Wednesday, Colorado State (22-6, 14-2 MW) became the first women’s or men’s team in Mountain West history to win at least a share of the regular season title in four consecutive seasons. The Rams made that record even more exclusive on Saturday, as the Rams have now won all four of those regular season titles outright. With Saturday’s win, the Rams also clinch the No. 1 seed in the 2017 Mountain West Women’s Basketball Championship.
The Rams were led offensively by senior forward Elin Gustavsson, who tallied 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting with eight rebounds. Junior guard Stine Austgulen scored 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting (5-of-7 three-point shooting) with seven rebounds. Junior guard Hannah Tvrdy joined the two in double-figure scoring, tallying 15 points. Senior guard Ellen Nystrom added seven points with eight rebounds and 10 assists.
CSU took control of the game from the get-go, firing at a 57.7 percent rate from the floor in the first half. The Rams led 20-14 after the first quarter, and had a 23-20 edge before a big run starting at the 7:48 mark in the second quarter. From that point, CSU went on a 20-2 run to seize control of the game with a 43-22 advantage. The Rams took a 44-27 lead to halftime, and never looked back.
The Rams outscored the Aztecs (9-18, 4-12 MW) by 11 in the third quarter to take a 59-31 lead to the final period. The Rams scored all 15 of their points in the third quarter unanswered, as the Aztecs did not socre in the third period until the 1:22 mark. When Saturday’s game reached the fourth quarter, SDSU could only draw within 25 points before the Rams pulled away. For the game, CSU shot 52.8 percent from the floor (28-of-53) and 60 percent from the three-point arc (12-of-20).
Featured Image Credit: CSU women’s basketball, Twitter