Women’s roundup: Gorton scores 23 as CSU flies by Air Force

Thursday, March 7, 2002 | 10:16 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Angie Gorton scored 23 points to lead No. 18 Colorado State to a 79-68 victory over Air Force in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament Wednesday night.

The victory put the Rams (24-5) into Friday's semifinals against host UNLV, which beat Utah 57-38 in Thursday's late game.

Colorado State opened a 21-10 lead with 11 minutes left in the first half and never looked back.

Air Force (4-24) closed the gap to 21-12 midway through the first half, but never got any closer after the Rams held a 43-32 lead at the break.

Colorado State opened the second half with a 17-8 run in the first 6:23 to build its lead to 60-40.

Gorton had four points in the run and the Rams' Jasai Ferrucho and Ashley Augspurger had consecutive steals and layups to help build Colorado State's lead.

Katie Borton made four 3-pointers and scored 15 points for the Rams, and Augspurger finished the game with 12.

Amoy Jackson had 13 points and eight rebounds to lead the way for the Falcons.

The Cougars shot a red-hot 48 percent (13-for-25) on their 3-point shots.

Wyoming placed five players in double figures, led by Carrie Bacon's 18 points.

Chelsea Grear added 14 points for New Mexico (22-7) while freshman Lindsey Arndt added 13.

The Lobos took control of the game with a 15-5 run to end the first half, wiping out a 22-17 Aztecs lead. New Mexico's biggest lead was 50-36 with just under seven minutes to play.