суббота, 15 сентября 2012 г.

CSU IS LOVING LAS VEGAS AFTER TIPPING UNLV, RAMS FACE RICE IN WAC TOURNEY.(Sports) - Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)

Byline: Angel Hernandez News Staff Writer

LAS VEGAS -- The Colorado State women's basketball team can make the Thomas & Mack Center its house this afternoon.

The No. 4 Rams (30-1) barely escaped hometown favorite Nevada-Las Vegas Wednesday to advance to today's semifinal against Rice (3:30 p.m. MST) in the Western Athletic Conference tournament.

The Rams fought more than first-game butterflies Wednesday night in a 71-67 escape from UNLV (17-11). They met an increasingly confident Rebels squad that nearly tripped them a week earlier on the same floor. They tired down the stretch against a taller, physical team dominating the boards (UNLV held a 42-32 rebounding edge). They lapsed into foul trouble attempting to contain well-rounded, 6-foot-3 freshman forward Linda Froelich (29 points). They dug a hole with a dismal turn (3-for-9) at the foul line in the first half. They squandered a 10-point second-half lead (59-49 with 6:49 remaining in the game), and the score was tied 64-64 with 2 minutes left.

Then Becky Hammon answered the call again, leading the way with 30 points. The Rams had thrived with a balanced attack during Wednesday's first half. CSU relied on Hammon for only 21 percent of its points before the break. But the balance stopped there as UNLV switched increasingly to a zone defense. Hammon's teammates shot 25 percent from the field in the second half - just when the Rebels' defense should have been concentrating on Hammon.

``I think we obviously didn't look like the fourth-ranked team in the country,'' Rams coach Tom Collen said. ``(UNLV) played hard and countered our weaknesses with their strengths.''

Hammon had no choice but to shoulder the burden and carry the Rams to an 18th consecutive victory. She provided almost 65 percent of CSU's 34 second-half points. And Hammon scored her squad's final seven points in 1:47. She first threw in a trey from the top of the arc.

``I knew they'd take the wing away from me, so I faked to the wing and came back and shot it,'' Hammon said. She subsequently sank four free throws to secure the victory.

``We got a bad game out of the way,'' Hammon said. ``That wasn't the real Rams team.''

``Certainly, it's not a treat to play a home team on their court. I think that was a distinct advantage for them,'' Collen said. ``I was happy with the fact that we won. I wasn't happy with the way that we played. We weren't real focused. And I take credit for that . . . That is the coach's fault. We'll use it to our advantage. I think we've got the kids woke up.''

Rice (18-10) stands in CSU's way now. The Owls lost two games this season to the Rams: by 18 points in Fort Collins and 17 points in Houston. The winner of today's game faces the winner of a 1 p.m. MST semifinal between Southern Methodist (17-10) and New Mexico (22-5) in Saturday's title game (3:30 p.m. MST, Fox Sports Rocky Mountain).

``We look at it as an opportunity,'' Rice coach Cristy McKinney said.

Owls freshman guard LaToya Brown wasn't quite as cautious. ``It's our time to shine right now,'' Brown said.

Collen said he hopes the Rams will exhibit some growing comfort with playing in Las Vegas - where Hammon has scored 72 points in two games this season. ``We've got two games under our belt on this court. And we've survived. We've won both of them, against, I think, a very, very improved UNLV team. We've just got to go back to the drawing board, and we've got to work a little bit harder because now we're getting ready to play Rice, another team we've played two times this year and everyone expects us to beat. It's just very, very difficult to beat someone three times in one year.

``We're certainly going to run into some big teams. And not just big teams but athletic teams along the way. Rice is a little bit different matchup for us, too. We've struggled against big physical teams, and the only way we can compete with them is if we're shooting the ball really, really well from the three-point line. We didn't do that very well (Wednesday), other than Becky. We have to neutralize that almost knowing we're going to get beat up on the boards a little bit.''

INFOBOX

COLORADO STATE WOMEN VS. RICE

When - 3:30 p.m. MST today.

What - Western Athletic Conference tournament.

Where - Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas.

Records - No. 4 Colorado State is 30-1, 14-0 WAC Mountain Division. Rice is 18-10, 9-5.

TV / radio - No television. KCOL-AM (1410) in Fort Collins.

Probable starters - CSU: G Becky Hammon, 5-foot-6, sr., 23.0 points a game, 4.0 rebounds a game, 3.6 assists a game; G Roxanne Manning, 5-8, jr., 5.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists; F Katie Cronin, 6-0, 14.7 points, 7.3 rebounds; F Heather Haanen, 5-11, so., 10.0 points, 4.2 rebounds; C Farah McDill, 6-0, so., 6.5 points, 3.9 rebounds. Rice: G Marla Brumfield, 5-9, jr., 14.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists; G Charonda Wilson, 5-4, sr., 6.5 points, 4.6 assists; F Kim Smallwood, 5-10, jr., 9.5 points, 6.6 rebounds; F Kirra Jordan, 6-0, jr., 11.1 points, 6.7 rebounds; C Jennifer Hamilton, 6-3, sr., 8.8 points, 4.6 rebounds.

Notes - The Rams might be tiring just when they will be facing bigger teams in next week's NCAA Tournament. The CSU front line (Cronin, McDill and Haanen) has successfully held its own all season despite averaging just under 6 feet while top returning center Shannon Randles recovered from two broken wrists. Cronin slumped last year offensively around tournament time and has shot only .280 in her past three games for a 6.3-point average. Cronin has shot .484 for the year. The senior from Horizon High School continues to produce on the boards and did hit two critical free throws late in Wednesday night's squeaker against Nevada-Las Vegas. Haanen has shot only .370 in the past three games and McDill has averaged only 4.3 points and 2.7 rebounds during the stretch . . . Hammon isn't assured of winning a fourth consecutive WAC scoring title. With a 23-point average, she trails UNLV's Linda Froelich by a point a game. Hammon might get some opportunities to close the gap. Any points in future tournament action count toward the league title. CSU likely will be selected for the NCAA Tournament while Nevada-Las Vegas hopes to gain a berth in the Women's National Invitation Tournament . . . CSU started the week ranked fifth in the rating percentage index. But only Oregon's schedule was rated less difficult (87th to CSU's 65th) among the top 20 teams ranked.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Becky Hammon, center, celebrates with her Colorado State teammates after slipping past Nevada-Las Vegas 71-67 on Wednesday. The Rams face Rice today at the Thomas & Mack Center in a Western Athletic Conference tournament semifinal. By Eric Draper / Associated Press.