Colorado State wins Mountain West women’s title

Ellen Nystrom went more than 39 minutes without scoring in the women’s championship game of the Mountain West tournament on Friday.

But when she toed the free-throw line with 3.3 seconds left, the conference player of the year was free of nerves and full of confidence.

“She wasn’t missing,” Colorado State coach Ryun Williams said.

Nystrom sank both shots, sending the 22nd-ranked Rams to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002 with a 55-54 victory over Fresno State at the Thomas &Mack Center.

“There was really no doubt. Wasn’t she cool on that line?” Williams said. “Ellen was cool on that line.”

In the final 11.5 seconds, with a one-point lead, Fresno State fouled three times to kill the clock.

But the fourth foul, the one that sent Nystrom to the line, was not on purpose.

“We had four fouls to give, and we wanted to use a little bit of time and foul to keep them away from running one of anything, really,” Fresno State coach Jaime White said. “Ryun took a timeout (with 6.3 seconds left), and at that timeout, we said, ‘No more fouling,’ because they were going to shoot the ball and try to draw a foul.”

Nystrom’s two free throws completed a frantic, late charge from the Rams, who, after being outscored 17-6 in the second quarter, turned the tables in the second half.

The Rams (31-1) outscored the Bulldogs (22-11) by 15 points in the second half.

“What our team did doesn’t surprise me,” Williams said. “You don’t win 30 games by laying down and folding.”

Stine Austgulen led the Rams with 14 points off the bench, and Keyora Wharry and Elin Gustavsson, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, scored 10 each.

“We always kept our poise, and we knew that we (were) going to win this game,” Nystrom said. “We were never nervous or felt pressured or anything. We just knew that we were going to come back in this game.”

It’s confidence befitting of a team that has won 30 straight games and hasn’t lost since before Thanksgiving.

The Rams blew through conference play undefeated and were favored to win the Mountain West tournament.

But unlike the past two years in which they entered as the No. 1 seed but came out with nothing to show for it, the Rams finally sealed a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

“I think one of the tougher things in all of sports is to do what you’re supposed to do,” Williams said, “and these kids did that.”

The Rams will have to wait until Monday to find out their opponent and where they’re headed.

In the meantime, they’re enjoying their title — and what comes with it.

“We were talking about that — we wanted these hats so bad,” Nystrom said.

Betsy Helfand can be reached at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @BetsyHelfand