Dec. 31, 2005
Contact: Carlos Valdez III. (210) 458-4930
Second-half rally falls short as Colorado State outlasts UTSA, 63-59
Box Score
SAN ANTONIO – UTSA outscored Colorado State, 39-23, in the second half but the rally fell short as the Rams held on for a 63-59 victory in the final game of the Wells Fargo/UTSA New Year’s Classic Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
Senior Katie Sandefur, who was named to the all-tournament team, and junior Vivian Ewalefo (right) scored 13 and 11 points, respectively, to lead the Roadrunners (5-6), while Sara Hunter, also an all-tourney honoree, led Colorado State with 16, while Lindsay Thomas and Vanessa Espinoza added 13 and 12.
Trailing 40-20 at the half, the Roadrunners mounted a furious second-half rally behind the inspired play of Sandefur, Ewalefo and freshman Farren Fox, who scored all nine of her points after the break.
A jumper from the right wing by Fox and Dunson’s third 3-pointer of the contest cut the large Rams deficit to 12 at 47-35 with 14:17 remaining. Fox tacked on a free throw to trim it to 11 before Molly Nohr converted a pair of free throws and Hunter nailed her fourth trey to push the Rams lead back to 16, 52-36.
The Roadrunner defense kicked in high gear at that point, holding the Rams scoreless for the next 6:49. Senior Katie Sandefur swished a three from the left wing and a jumper from the top of the lane, capping a 10-0 run that pulled UTSA to within 52-46 with 7:50 on the clock. Thomas stopped the bleeding for the Rams with a jumper from the left side at the 6:12 mark.
The Rams held UTSA at bay until a late 9-0 run capped by a Fox (left) 3-pointer from the right wing cut the deficit to three, 58-55, with 1:01 remaining. That was as close as UTSA would get as Espinoza sank 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch to secure the 63-59 decision.
Colorado State took a commanding 40-20 halftime lead behind red-hot outside shooting. The Rams jumped out to an early 10-2 lead through the first 3:57 and extended that to 19-8 behind five combined 3-pointers from Hunter and Espinoza. A 13-9 stretch made it 23-11 in favor of the Rams with 11:27 left in the half.
Both teams then entered a four-minute scoring drought that was broken at the 7:31 mark with a fall-away jumper by freshman Destiny Brown that just beat the shot clock buzzer. UTSA cut the deficit to eight at 23-15, but the Rams answered with a 7-0 run over the next 2:02, capped by another three from Espinoza that made it 30-15.
Liz Kramer and Thomas joined the hot shooting from downtown with back-to-back connections that increased the lead to 36-17 with just over three minutes left in the half.
Colorado State finished the first half shooting 14-of-26 from the field, including an 8-for-10 showing from behind the arc. UTSA’s offense was held in check, shooting just 23.7 percent (9-of-38), including 1-of-13 on threes.
Tulsa (9-2) defeated Buffalo, 64-39, in the other Saturday contest to finish the tournament 2-0. Buffalo fell to 1-1 in the event and 5-6 overall.
The Roadrunners open conference play on Thursday, Jan. 5, when they host Southeastern Louisiana at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
2005 Wells Fargo/UTSA New Year’s Classic All-Tournament Team
Jillian Robbins, Tulsa
Megan Moody, Tulsa
Heater Turner, Buffalo
Sara Hunter, Colorado State
Katie Sandefur, UTSA