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Women's basketball recap: Rams fall to New Mexico

CSU's tournament, season end after first round

	Chatilla van Grinsven

March 9, 2010

Final Stats

By Danielle Marshall
Athletic Media Relations

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Despite a courageous comeback, the Rams’ stay in Las Vegas was cut short after a first-round loss to New Mexico in the Conoco Mountain West Championships. Colorado State fell to the Lobos 67-54 Tuesday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The loss ended a turnaround season for CSU (13-17), a year that continued an upward trend in Kristen Holt’s second season as head coach. The Rams improved by four wins over their regular-season record from 2008-09, and captured five conference victories, their most since the 2004-05 team posted a record of 6-8 in MWC action. Prior to this year, CSU hadn't won 13 games in one season since the 2004-05 campaign, when it was 15-13.

The Rams, who played without a senior this year, also return every player on the roster, as well as NCAA tournament veteran Kelly Hartig, a transfer from Virginia eligible next season.

“I know we took a step forward,” Holt said. “I think probably not only did our record improve, but I think certainly our attitude, our toughness, our mentality of coming out and giving it everything we have. I think we finally have reached that. And I think that's the one major thing we accomplished this year.”

The Rams stuck with the Lobos the entire contest, and even cut what was once a 14-point lead down to two, but were never able to gain the advantage after the 6:13 mark in the first half, when they went down by two on free throws.
Chatilla van Grinsven, Kim Mestdagh and Meghan Heimstra reached double figures with 16, 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the Rams.

The Rams had seven blocks and 11 steals, to set a pair of CSU records in a Mountain West tournament game. The team also grabbed 14 offensive boards, tying for third all-time in tournament play. Mestdagh had four steals on the afternoon, tying for second place in CSU’s MWC tournament record book.

Sara Halasz had 20 points on the afternoon for New Mexico (18-11) and Amy Beggin also had double digits with 18.
But despite the loss, after a vastly improved season, the Rams’ future is as bright as it has been in several years.

“Now that we've made that foundation,” Holt said, “I think we're adding some really good talent. Hopefully we can take that next step.”