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Senior guard Ellen Nystrom scored a career-high 33 points with 13 rebounds to lead the Colorado State women’s basketball team to a 66-62 win over the Seattle Redhawks and the Rams’ record-breaking 22nd consecutive victory at Moby Arena.
The Rams (7-4) 22-game win streak at Moby Arena passes a nearly 20-year-old record, as CSU had previously won 21 straight from 1998-99. The Rams’ 22-game win streak at home ranks as the fourth-best in the nation.
“I think our kids do take great pride in playing in front of our fans, playing here in Moby,” head coach Ryun Williams said after the win. “The streak isn’t something that we talk about at all – there isn’t one time we’ve stepped on this floor and thought we’re just going to win because it’s Moby. The second we do that, we’ll get beat so fast it isn’t even funny. I am proud of our kids that they have respected our fan base and the atmosphere the arena can provide us. We’ve had some close ones where we’ve needed our fans, so it’s cool that this group gets to set the record. I hope it continues.”
Nystrom put together her career-high scoring night on 13-of-24 shooting (.542), accounting for half of the team’s points and more than half of CSU’s 24 field goals made on Sunday. Nystrom’s 13 field goals made were the sixth-most in a single game in program history.
Sophomore Callie Kaiser scored 10 points with seven rebounds, marking her third straight game in double figures. Junior Hannah Tvrdy had seven points, while senior Elin Gustavsson added six. The Rams shot .462 (24-of-52) for the game.
The Rams began the game in a 16-10 hole after the first quarter, and struggled with an offensive funk for much of the first half. CSU trailed Seattle, 25-18, with 4:19 left in the first half, but scored the final 10 points of the half to take a 28-25 lead to the break.
CSU stretched that run to 18-2 to take a 36-27 lead at the 4:56 mark in the third quarter, and extended its lead to 14 with 8:51 to go, pacing Seattle 49-35. The Rams held the double-figure lead with less than three minutes to and led 64-56 with 20 seconds to go. The Redhawks rallied to cut the lead to three with 10 seconds remaining, but junior forward Veronika Mirkovic made a key free throw and Nystrom corralled the final rebound to seal the 66-62 win.
