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Fort Collins, CO. — It was a record-breaking afternoon (Dec. 11) at Moby Arena for Colorado State against New Mexico Highlands University. Callie Kaiser set a new career-high in points with 20, followed by a record-breaking 20 three-pointers, to continue its 21 consecutive home game win streak dating back to last season.
Behind Kaiser’s and the rest of the team’s prolific afternoon of shooting, in addition to 17 points from Hannah Tvrdy, the Rams move to 6-4 as they cruised past New Mexico Highlands by a final score of 96-31.
The first quarter started out as expected. The Rams got off to its usual head start, breezing past the Cowgirls with a 10-point lead. It wasn’t until there was 5:36 left on the clock in the first period that the NMHU managed to score its first basket.
Surprisingly, this gave New Mexico Highlands the little bit of spark it needed to score six more points in the next 90 seconds of play. However, the Cowgirls only managed to score three more points the rest of the quarter while Colorado State’s Stine Austgulen and Tvrdy went on a three-point spree to end the first quarter with a 12-point lead, 23-11.
The second quarter was also raining three’s as the Rams were on fire from beyond the arc. It was deja vu as the Cowgirls were held to zero points almost the entire second quarter until NMHU managed to score one lonesome basket with 1:03 left in the half.
Colorado State’s Tvrdy led her team in the second quarter with three of the team’s seven three-pointers. She and Kaiser both led the team with 15 and 12 points respectively to close out the first half with a 38-point lead over the Cowgirls.
NMHU struggled the entire first half even to get a shot up before the shot clock ran out. The Rams just appeared to be bigger, stronger and overall a better basketball team. Or maybe the Rams just have one of the best home-court advantages in the country?
With a consecutive home win-streak such as this, people would think this team was undefeated. But they are far from it, sitting at 6-4.
The Cowgirls resorted to a player-to-player defense in the third quarter, but the Rams were too quick and continued to run up the scoreboard. Tvrdy and Kaiser continued to be the outliers, both tying their career highs with 17 points in the third. The Ram’s held a healthy 46-point lead over the Cowgirls going into the final quarter, 70-24.
Trying to mix things up, NMHU went back to a zone defense, hoping maybe that would rattle the Ram’s offense. However, no matter what the Cowgirls did, nothing could stop them. Colorado State was on a mission, and they didn’t let up. The Ram’s closed out the game with its 21st consecutive home win as they sent the Cowgirls packing, 96-31.
The 6-4 Rams will face off against Seattle University as they look to continue its home game win streak at Moby Arena on Dec. 18.
Overall, Colorado State head coach Ryun Williams was very pleased with his team’s performance.
“We shot the ball extremely well tonight. We played together and with really good energy, and we had that ready mentality. We were ready to play. We were ready to guard. We were ready to shoot. A really good team win.”
Sophomore guard/forward Callie Kaiser talked about how getting more playing time gave her the confidence to have her record-breaking night.
“I do feel more comfortable. I am just trying to do what I can to help the team.”
Kaiser’s partner in crime this afternoon, Hannah Tvrdy, said that the team just really came together today.
“Once shots were falling, we were really hyped for each other. I think that kind of just spread throughout the entire team. We fed off of each other.”