FORT COLLINS, CO—The UC Riverside Women's Basketball team's inspired late rally came up short in their, 52-40, loss at Colorado State Sunday afternoon. 

UC Riverside (2-7, 0-0) got 13 points, seven rebounds from Marina Ewodo, and Jannon Otto added nine points while pulling down a season-high 12 rebounds and dishing out a game-high five assists. 
Both teams struggled shooting the ball in the first half, which included a, 5-3, second quarter that led to a 16-11, Colorado State (5-3, 0-0) advantage. 

The third period saw both teams find their shooting touch, as it took just four minutes to eclipse their second period totals. That four minute stretch, however, featured a 10-0 run by the hosts, before the blue and gold responded with four straight points of their own to make it 26-15.

Early in the fourth, with the Highlanders still trailing by 11, 38-27, they got a jumper from Keilanei Cooper and a three from Ewodo to cut the deficit to six, 38-32. Coming out of the media break, Colorado State ran off eight straight points to put the game out of reach with two minutes to play before it finished, 52-40.

The Highlanders held the Rams 21 points below their season average of 73 points a game, and also cut down on their turnovers with a season-low 13. As usual, they also shot it well at the line, making six of their seven attempts.

"We are showing signs of improvement, especially on defense. I liked how the girls responded late in the game." said Head Coach Seyram Bell. "We obviously we want a victory in every outing, but it's also important to take lessons from every game too, wins and losses. I believe this non-conference schedule will benefit us greatly in the future." she would go on to say.

LOOKING FORWARD

On Thursday, December 7th, the Highlanders host cross-town rival CBU in a tip-off slated for 7pm PT.