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The Colorado State women’s basketball rallied from a five-point deficit with one minute remaining in regulation to set up a 70-67 victory over the San Jose State Spartans in overtime on Wednesday night from Moby Arena.
With the victory, fifth-year head coach Ryun Williams becomes the third coach in program history to win 100 games as CSU head coach. Williams also picks up his 57th Mountain West victory, which sets the program record for most conference wins in program history.
With one minute to go, the Spartans (4-10, 1-1 MW) led the Rams (10-5, 2-1 MW) by five at 58-53. Senior guard Ellen Nystrom stepped up with all five CSU points, cutting the lead to three on a pair of free throws before sinking the tying three-pointer with 38 seconds left. The Rams held San Jose State off the board on the Spartans’ final possession of regulation and forced overtime.
San Jose State’s Paris Baird scored the first points of overtime, but senior forward Elin Gustavsson hit a layup to tie the game back up before junior guard Hannah Tvrdy followed with another layup to take the lead back. The Rams never trailed for the remainder of overtime, extending their lead to as much as 67-61 on a Nystrom layup-and-one with a minute to go. San Jose State hit a pair of three-pointers to cut the CSU lead to one with seven seconds left, but junior guard Stine Austgulen made a pair of key free throws and the Rams made a final defensive stop to claim a 70-67 victory.
Nystrom paced the Rams with 32 points and 14 rebounds, accounting for her fifth double-double of the season and her seventh game this year with 20 points or more. Nystrom added six assists. Gustavsson recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds for her second double-double this year, while Tvrdy scored eight points on 4-of-6 shooting.
The Rams led 32-23 at halftime, but the Spartans trimmed the lead to 45-40 heading to the final period of the night. CSU scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to nine at 49-40, but the Spartans went on a 16-2 run over the next 6:15 and took a 56-51 lead with 3:56 to go. San Jose State held that lead until the final minute of regulation, setting up Wednesday’s dramatics.
