LAS VEGAS (March 10, 2001) Lisa Osguthorpe picked up a season and career high 16 points in the championship game of the EAS MWC Women's Basketball tournament, but despite her effort the Cougar women fell short 56-59 to CSU, Saturday.

By winning the championship game, CSU gets an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

"This is a tough loss for our team," said BYU women's head coach Trent Shippen after the close three-point defeat. "We were a little sluggish and not much emotion in the first half, but came back in the second half to get a tie and the lead with just over five minutes to play."

"Lisa Osguthorpe had a great game, she kept us in it when some of our other players were struggling. We just had a couple of defensive breakdowns that they (CSU) capitalized on, and we didn't get a couple of calls to go our way," added Shippen.

The come from behind second half for BYU was their third in the conference tournament. Osguthorpe, Caroline Beus and Erin Thorn were all named to the All-Tournament team.

Beus scored 13 points in the game and grabbed a team high 11 rebounds. The Cougars shot 42 percent from the field and just 23 percent from behind the arc, compared to the Rams 46 percent from three-point range.

BYU finishes its season with an 18-12, 8-6 record and will hopefully receive a post season invitation from either the NCAA or the WNIT.