By Mohamed Bafakih (@MohamedABafa ):
Controlling the pace was something Colorado State’s women’s basketball team managed to do against San Jose State, as it tossed the Spartans a 63-48 loss.
SJSU’s first conference loss was its lowest scoring performance of the season. Prior to Saturday’s defeat in Fort Collins, 55 points was the mark.
In the first half, the Spartans (4-9, 1-1 MW) got a lift from their bench as they had 10 of the 26 points.
After multiple ties and lead changes late in the second quarter, redshirt senior Hannah Tvrdy hit a go-ahead three-pointer with one second left to put the Rams (9-4, 1-1 MW) up 28-26 at the break.
It was a back-and-forth battle through three quarters, which featured five ties and four lead changes, but CSU outscored SJSU 20-10 to close out the game in the final frame.
Both teams shot under 40 percent from the field and the three-point line. The Rams were 26/66 (39.4 percent) overall and 7/22 (31.8 percent) from downtown, while the Spartans were 19/55 (34.5 percent) and 5/22 (22.7 percent) from deep.
Myzhanique Ladd, who was the only Spartan in double figures, finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
The Rams, meanwhile, had three double-digit scorers.
Redshirt senior Stine Austgulen had a game-high 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting and was 5-for-8 from beyond the arc. Grace Colaivalu added 15 and Tvrdy with 10.
Next up for SJSU is another out-of-state matchup against UNLV (5-7, 0-1 MW) on Jan. 3.