The Colorado State women’s basketball team earned another historic win on Friday with a 55-54 come-from-behind victory over Fresno State to claim a sweep of both the Mountain West conference regular season title and the conference tournament championship. With the win, CSU officially punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
CSU, winners of a school record 28-consecutive games, earned their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002, while the 31-1 start to the year now matches the program record for best start to a season with the 1998-99 team.
The Rams were trailing at the end of the game, but with the ball and a chance to win. Inbounding the ball with 11.5 seconds left in the game, Fresno State utilized the multiple fouls it had to give, eventually taking the time down to just 4.0 seconds left with CSU’s ball out of bounds. Guard Ellen Nystrom, who hadn’t scored and was 0-of-7 from the field at that point, caught the ball and immediately elevated for an 18-foot jumper. While shooting, Nystrom was hit across the arm and drew the foul to go to the free throw line with 3.3 seconds left. The junior from Sweden calmly stepped to the line and hit both free throws to give CSU its first lead since 3-0.
The Rams found themselves down early as Fresno State opened the game with a 11-3 run. Colorado State struggled offensively throughout the first half, particularly in the second quarter, as Fresno State went into the intermission leading 36-22 lead.
After trading baskets for the first five minutes of the second half, the Rams made a small push to trim the lead down to eight points, 47-39, heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, CSU’s defense carried the way. While many CSU players were struggling to score, sophomore guard Stine Austgulen came off the bench and scored a career-high 14 points and knocked down four 3-pointers.
With Austgulen’s hot shooting from deep, the Rams began to extend Fresno State’s zone defense, opening up lanes for senior guard Keyora Wharry to take advantage of pinpoint passes from Nystrom. Wharry scored six points in the fourth quarter, while Nystrom racked up a CSU single-game record 16 assists. Her 16 assists also moved her season total to 179, passing the single-season record of 174 assists by Becky Hammon in the 1998-99 season.
Nystrom earned a spot on the Mountain West All-Tournament Team, while junior forward Elin Gustavsson was named the Most Outstanding Player after averaging 16.3 points per game on 58.8 percent shooting (20-of-34).
Colorado State has won the conference regular season title in the two previous years, but has been unable to secure the conference tournament title. They are the first team to sweep both since San Diego State in 2011-12. Even the 1998-99 team that won a school record 33 games did not win both their conference and conference tournament.
Image credit: csurams.com