LOS ANGELES — This season has felt almost scripted for the Colorado State women’s basketball team.
But after winning 30 games for the second time in program history and making to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 14 years, there was no Hollywood ending for the Rams just a few miles west of Tinseltown.
Sixth-seeded South Florida put an end to 11th-seeded CSU’s record-filled 2015-16 campaign with a 48-45 victory over the Rams in the first round Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion.
After trailing by 12 points in the fourth quarter, the Rams nearly pulled off an incredible comeback. They were within three points with the ball three times in the final 1:19, but potential game-tying 3-pointers by Elin Gustavsson, Jamie Patrick and Sofie Tryggedsson all missed.
Patrick’s miss came with 6 seconds left, and that appeared to seal the Rams’ fate. But a steal by Hannah Tvrdy gave CSU new life.
Tryggedsson had a good look from the corner but her shot missed just to the right.
USF (24-9) advances to face No. 3 seed UCLA (25-8) in the second round Monday.
With USF star guard Courtney Williams benched to start the game, CSU stormed out to a 10-0 lead on the strength of consecutive 3-pointers by Patrick. But Williams entered the game soon after, and her impact was immediate and significant the rest of the way.
After coming off the bench with her team down 10-1 with 4:41 to go in the first quarter, the Wooden Award finalist led a 20-5 USF run that gave the Bulls a five-point lead in the second quarter.
CSU was able to weather the storm, ending the first half on a 9-3 run to take a 24-23 lead at the break, but the Williams-led Bulls controlled most of the second half until the Rams’ late run.
The 5-foot-8 Williams scored a game-best 31 points in 35 minutes to go with six rebounds and four steals.
No other Bulls player scored in double figures.
Patrick paced CSU with 17 points, while Ellen Nystrom added 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
The loss ends the Rams’ program-record win streak at 28, nine more than the mark the team beat a month ago.
CSU finished the season 31-2, the best single-season winning percentage (.939) in team history. The 31 wins are second only to the Becky Hammon-led squad that went 33-3 in 1998-99, ending its run in the Sweet 16 in Los Angeles.
