Schlott’s 21 not enough for Aggies in loss to Colorado State
Colorado State too much for the Aggies
Logan Jones
Staff Writer
The Utah State women’s basketball had no answer for Colorado State’s high-powered offense Wednesday, losing 100-75 and falling to 4-8 in conference play.
The Rams have now won 15 of their last 16 and lead the Mountain West with a 11-1 conference record.
“Their offense was just so skilled,” said USU head coach Jerry Finkbeiner. “All five could shoot. They looked for each other. They were all good passers … I told the girls after the game we feel good about anybody in the conference, but we’re going to have to make up a lot of points if we see them again.”
The Rams offense boasted five players scoring in double-figures, led by guard Gritt Ryder who finished with 19 points and six assists. Ryder was largely responsible for CSU’s 23-point halftime lead, shooting 5-of-6 from beyond the arc in the first half and finishing the game 7-of-12 from the field.
As a team, Colorado State hit 14 3-pointers in the contest.
“Their skill-set was off the charts,” Finkbeiner said. “It made us look like a team that can’t defend. We worked very hard on our zone offense because we knew they’d play us zone, and they played us 40 minutes of it. We couldn’t penetrate it, couldn’t score on it, couldn’t rebound against it.”
Jen Schlott led all scorers with 21 points, and the return of Makenlee Williams added another 18 points to the effort.
“They are a very good team,” Williams said. “They played very well tonight. We’ve got to give them credit. We didn’t make it difficult for them on the defensive end.”
The Aggies started the first four minutes of the game in a 14-0 hole and were unable to ever close the gap. The Rams started off the game hot, shooting 58 percent in the first half including 57 percent from deep, capped by a Ryder 3-pointer in the closing seconds. USU couldn’t find a rhythm and shot just 34 percent in the opening half.
The Aggies also committed seven turnovers in the first half, leading to 11 CSU points. USU only scored seven points off of CSU turnovers the entire game.
A.J. Newton came out firing for the Rams in the second half, sinking a three. Five minutes in, the CSU lead was 73-39, the largest of the night.
“We struggled tonight on the offensive end,” Williams said. “We just couldn’t find that rhythm. We’d go on a run, then they’d go on a run and we couldn’t get over the slump. We needed to in order to really get going.”
“We tried,” Finkbeiner said. “It’s just that they were 30 points better than us tonight.”
– Logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @Logantj