Rams defeat New Mexico for unprecedented fourth straight MW regular season title

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The Colorado State women’s basketball team defeated the New Mexico Lobos, 58-55, on Wednesday night from Moby Arena to clinch at least a share of an unprecedented fourth consecutive Mountain West regular season title.

With a win in any of its final three games, Colorado State (21-6, 13-2 MW) can win the regular season title outright. The Rams have won each of their previous three regular season titles outright.

The Rams led for 32:36 on Wednesday, but found themselves down 52-51 on a three by UNM’s Laneah Bryan. Over the final 2:15 of the game, Myanne Hamm made a go-ahead three and forced two Lobo turnovers, converting the second into a layup to put the Rams back ahead by four (56-52). However, the Lobos’ Bryan responded with another three, and cut the CSU advantage to 56-55 with 37 seconds to play.

In what turned out to be CSU’s final possession of the game, the Rams called on Preseason MW Player of the Year and 2015-16 MW Player of the Year Ellen Nystrom. The senior from Lulea, Sweden ran the clock down to five seconds, drove past UNM center Richelle van der Keijl and laid a shot off the glass and into the basket to give the Rams a 58-55 edge.

Nystrom continued her late-game heroics on the defensive end, cleanly blocking UNM’s Alex Lapeyrolerie from three-point range with two seconds to go. The Lobos (15-12, 10-6 MW) were unable to get a shot off in the final two seconds, as the Rams clinched the 58-55 win and their fourth straight Mountain West regular season title.

Nystrom finished with 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting with 10 rebounds and six assists. Elin Gustavsson joined Nystrom with a double-double, scoring 11 points with as many boards. Hamm had 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 21 minutes, while Stine Austgulen tallied eight and Hannah Tvrdy added six.

The Rams got off to one of their best starts this season, as their 19 points in the first quarter was their third-highest total in Mountain West play. CSU tallied only eight points in the second quarter, but held the Lobos to 20.7 percent shooting in the first half and took a 27-17 halftime lead.

The Rams maintained their advantage late in the third quarter, leading at the 1:05 mark by nine at 41-32. However, New Mexico closed the final minute of the third quarter with six points and buried another three in the opening minute of the fourth to tie the game at 41-41. The Rams took the lead back on their next possession on an Austgulen layup, and held it until the dramatic final minutes.