Thursday, March 6, 1997

LAS VEGAS -- Colorado State University fell to Southern Methodist 69-64 in the first round of the Western Athletic Conference tournament. The loss drops the Rams' record to 21-7 on the season while SMU improves to 19-10. The Mustangs advance to play Utah in the semifinals Friday.

The two teams exchanged leads 10 times in the first half with SMU going up 32-29 at the break. Kim Brandl led the Mustang charge with 14 in the period, including a jumper with 3:22 left to give SMU a one-point lead which it never relinquished. Brandl scored the Mustangs' last seven points of the half.

1997 WAC Pacific Division player of the year Becky Hammon buried a jumper to start the scoing in the second half and get the Rams within one but that's as close as they would get the rest of the way. Hammon was held to 11 points, including 1-of-7 shooting from 3-point land. The sophomore from Rapid City, S.D., led the conference in scoring at 22.5 points per game during the regular season.

SMU opened up its largest lead of the game on a Karlin Kennedy hoop that made it 56-41. The Rams then went on an 18-5 run, keyed by five points from Katie Cronin and six from Jacque Johnson, to cut the lead to 61-59 at the 3:05 mark.

Colorado State then went scoreless over the next 2:34 as the Mustangs built the lead back up to seven with 32 seconds left. Johnson then nailed a 3-pointer and Hammon a jumper in a 13-second span to get within 66-64. The Rams could not hit another hoop, however, as SMU missed three of six free throws in the final 14 seconds.

Cronin led all scorers with 23 points for the Rams and Shannon Randles added a career-high 18 rebounds. Brandl finished with 22 points and Kennedy had 21 for SMU. The Rams hit just 6-of-27 3-pointers on the night (.222).