CSU's second-half surge beats Boise State in a thriller

CSU took Boise State's best shot.

And what a shot it was, as the Broncos led by a dozen at the half.

The visiting Broncos put on an offensive show at Moby Arena, but a stellar second half powered the Colorado State University women's basketball team to a thrilling 83-82 win to extend its winning streak to seven games.

"Boise was outstanding. Boise was great. We had to play exceptional, maybe our best game of the year," coach Ryun Williams said. "That's as tough a win as we've had here at Colorado State in my three years."

Boise State (13-6, 5-3 Mountain West) scored 49 points in the first half against a CSU team that is best in the MW in allowing just 55.7 points a game.

The Rams were down 49-37 at half to the team that had handed the Rams (15-4, 7-1 MW) their only loss in conference play.

As she often is, senior Gritt Ryder was the catalyst for a lightining-quick comeback.

Ryder scored 14 points in the first 5:16 of the half, including a deep, highly contested 3-pointer right against the shot clock to completely erase the deficit and give CSU a 57-56 lead. It was the Rams' first lead since 14-12 in the first half.

"I don't know what really happened," Ryder said. "In warmups we had been practicing arch and shooting how high we can. I was like 'oh, I guess it paid off.' I think it creates momentum and Moby was fired up."

But Boise State wasn't going away easily. The Rams led 82-80 in the final minute after the two teams traded blows throughout the final 10 minutes.

A.J. Newton missed two free throws with 19 seconds left that could have sealed the win and Boise State tied it with a pair of free throws.

With 14 seconds left Ryder was fouled. She missed the first but calmly hit the second. Boise State's last attempt came on a 3-pointer from Shalen Shaw but it missed, giving the Rams redemption in front of the loudest crowd of the season.

"I feel like we just won the championship. We know we could be undefeated in conference if it wasn't for Boise," Newton said. "Just getting to play them again and getting to win is like, 'yes!'"

In the 10-point loss at Boise in late December the Rams were outrebounded by 14. Wednesday night CSU won the battle of the boards 36-29.

Everyone chipped in, including the 5-foot-3 Newton, who was tied for first on the team with six rebounds, including three big defensive ones in the final minutes.

Ryder finished with a game-high 24, Newton had 13 and Emilie Hesseldal and Ellen Nystrom had 11.

Boise State star Deanna Weaver started the game 5-6, but finished 6-13 with a team-high 17 points.

The Rams' started the second half on a 24-9 run to help get the revenge they were hunting.

"We had the worst defensive first half we've ever had," Ryder said. "We just tried to step it up there. We're so competitive that we knew that's not how it's supposed to go down."

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle at twitter.com/Kevin_Lytle and at facebook.com/KevinSLytle.

• Next up: CSU at Fresno State, 3 p.m. Saturday

• Listen: 1410 KIIX

• Twitter updates: @Kevin_Lytle

CSU 83, Boise State 82

At Moby Arena

Boise State 49 33 — 82 Colorado State 37 46 — 83

Boise State (13-6, 5-3 MW) — Weaver 6 3-4 17, Pahukoa 6 3-3 16, Askew 4 3-5 12, Reinhart 4 1-1 11, Rodriguez 4 0-0 10, Shaw 3 0-0 8, Redmon 1 1-1 3, Childress 1 0-0 3, McDavis 1 0-0 2.

Colorado State (15-4, 7-1 MW) — Ryder 7 6-7 24, Newton 4 3-5 13, Hesseldal 5 0-0 11, Nystrom 4 2-2 11, Wharry 4 1-2 9, Gustavsson 4 0-0 8, Wells 1 3-4 5, Arias 0 2-2 2.