No. 20 BYU 65, Colorado State 45
3/8/2006 11:15 PM
By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer
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DENVER (AP) - Top-seeded Brigham Young had two examples that kept it from looking past Colorado State: the Cougars' close game at Fort Collins last week and No. 21 New Mexico's early exit from the Mountain West Conference tournament.
Ambrosia Anderson scored 20 points and led a second-half charge to help No. 20 BYU beat Colorado State 65-45 Wednesday night after a close first half that showed its concerns were correct.
The Cougars (24-4) went to the locker room with a 29-26 halftime lead but opened the second half with a 13-0 run to end Colorado State's hopes of an upset two hours after three-time defending tournament champion New Mexico fell to UNLV on the same court.
Colorado State (9-20) had played BYU close at home last week, falling 69-67, giving the Rams hope they could hang with the Cougars at the Pepsi Center, too.
But Colorado State was playing less than 24 hours after beating San Diego State in the play-in game and fatigue became a factor after halftime as the Rams missed their first nine shots of the second half.
``They got a little bit tired and they couldn't bring the intensity they brought earlier,'' Brigham Young coach Jeff Judkins said. ``That's the advantage of not having to play that game.
``But I also think playing them closely in Fort Collins was a good motivating factor for us. We knew that if we don't come ready to play, they can stay with us.''
The Rams turned the ball over 25 times and had no answer for Anderson, the conference's co-player of the year along with Utah's Kim Smith. Anderson scored 12 of her points in the second half, all of them in the first 9:34 as the Cougars took a 52-30 lead that allowed them to get several subs playing time.
Dani Kubik added 10 points and six rebounds for the Cougars. Vanessa Espinoza's 15 points led Colorado State, which also got 10 points from Sara Hunter, who had 27 points against BYU on March 2.
``We felt pretty good going into the half only down by three,'' Colorado State coach Jen Warden said. ``But in the first five minutes of the second half we got overpowered and manhandled. And our turnovers turned out to be our demise.''
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