Colorado State University Athletics
Women?s Basketball Preview ? vs. UCCS (Exh.)
11/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Up Next: Women?s Basketball UC Colorado Springs (Exhibition Game)
Game 1: November 13 - UC Colorado Springs 7 p.m. MT
Radio: KCOL 600 AM Brian Roth - Play-by-Play. Corbu Stathes - Color Commentator
Webcast: Broadcast by Yahoo! Sports. Go to CSURams.com and click on the schedule to listen live.
Upcoming Home Game Promotions
Mini-Pack - Buy five games for $32: San Francisco, Pepperdine, Oregon, UConn, BYU
Discount Admission - $4 admission to UC Colorado Springs game with ticket stub from UNLV football game
Buy One Get One Free - Denver, Wyoming, UNLV, New Mexico
Practice Schedule (Tentative)
All times local to site
Day Date Place Time
Friday Nov. 12 Moby 3-6 p.m.
Saturday Nov. 13 Moby Game - 7 p.m.
Sunday Nov. 14 No Practice
Monday Nov. 15 IM 3-6 p.m.
Tuesday Nov. 16 Moby 3-6 p.m.
Wednesday Nov. 17 No Practice
Thursday Nov. 18 IM 4:30-6 p.m.
Friday Nov. 19 Moby Game - 8 p.m.
Saturday Nov. 20 No Practice
Sunday Nov. 21 South Bend, IN TBA
Monday Nov. 22 South Bend, IN Game - 7 p.m.
Coach Chris Denker On The Radio
The Coors Light Ram Basketball Coaches? Show will air from 7-8 p.m. from the University Park in Fort Collins, Colo. The show will air on 600 KCOL in Fort Collins and 710 KNUS in Denver. Show dates are: Nov. 16, Nov. 23, Dec. 14, Jan. 11, Jan. 18, Jan. 25, Feb. 1, Feb. 8, Feb. 15, Feb. 22, Mar. 1 and Mar. 8.
Colorado State & Poudre School District Partnership
The Colorado State Athletic Department and the Poudre School District announced last fall a partnership in which student-athletes will serve as role models and mentors for elementary school students. As part of the partnership, Colorado State will recognize a different elementary school at fall and winter athletic events. The school attending women?s basketball games includes:
Date Opponent School
11-19 San Francisco Irish
11-30 Pepperdine Livermore
12-4 Texas-Pan American Lopez
12-12 Oregon O?Dea
12-21 Tennessee-Martin Putnam
1-4 Denver Riffenburgh
1-20 San Diego State Tavelli
1-22 UNLV Timnath
1-28 Wyoming Traut
2-10 Brigham Young Stove Prarie & Bauder
UCCS Exhibition: Colorado State will face UC Colorado Springs on Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. in Moby Arena. It will be the second of two exhibition games for the Rams this season. UCCS was 10-17 overall last season with a 7-12 record in the RMAC.
Western State Rout: Colorado State defeated Western State in the first exhibition game of the season 89-39. Junior Melissa Dennett led the Rams in scoring with 21 points off of the bench and senior Msur Tor-Agbidye was the team leader with nine rebounds. Colorado State went 34 of 57 from the field shooting a whopping 59.6%.
Season Preview: After finishing 17-12 a year ago, and making it to the WNIT tournament for the second straight year, the team will look to match and hopefully improve upon that this year. The Rams lost two letterwinners from a year ago and return a solid nucleus of players, expected to compete for a conference title. After opening the year with two exhibition games the team will play the first of 13 non-conference games it will play this season at home against San Francisco. Other notable nonconference games on the Rams? schedule this season include Notre Dame on Nov. 22 in South Bend, Ind., as well as Colorado (12/8), Oregon (12/12) and defending National Champions UConn (12/23) at Moby Arena. The Rams will return their top three scorers from a year ago, marking only the fourth time in school history that has occurred. The most recent time this occurred was in the 2000-01 season when the Rams went 25-7 overall. In the 1998-99 season the team finished 33-3 after bringing back its top three scorers and in the 1987-88 season the team went 13-15.
Tough Defense: In the exhibition opener, Colorado State held Western State scorless for seven minutes in the first half. The Rams went on a 20-0 run over that span.
Joinning The Team In 2005-06: Head Coach Chris Denker announced on Nov. 10 that the Rams have signed three players to National Letters of Intent for the 2005-06 season.
Fresh Faces: This year?s team welcomes two freshmen to the roster. Sara Hunter, a Fort Collins native and Casie Shepard from Prior Lake, Minn. will be looking to make significant contributions to this year?s team.
Hunter, a 5-8 guard, played her high school ball at Rocky Mountain High School where she was a four sport athlete, lettering four years in basketball and volleyball. Hunter also lettered once in tennis and track. At Rocky Mountain she was a three-year captain and earned all-conference honors all four years. Hunter was also named Northern Conference Player of the Year once and earned All-State honors twice. In 2004 she was named All-Colorado and was a nominee for the USA Junior Olympics.
Shepard, who joins the team as a forward, attended Prior Lake High School in Prior Lake, Minn., where she lettered in basketball three times and twice in volleyball. Shepard earned all-conference honors three times and was named to the all-state team once. Shepard also helped lead her team to two Minnesota Conference championships as well as third and fourth place finishes in the state championship her junior and senior years, respectively. In 2003-04 she was named to the Top-20 Miss Basketball in the state of Minnesota.
New Faces on the Bench: In the offseason Coach Denker added some new faces to his staff. Replacing Krista Poehler (who took an assistant coaching position at San Diego State) is Marcy Myers. Myers graduated from Dickinson State University in 2001. At DSU, Myers played one year of basketball, after transferring from Black Hills State University. Prior to joining the staff at CSU she was an assistant coach for the basketball and volleyball teams at Chadron State College. Also joining the Rams is Ryan Johnson who was named the director of basketball operations in the offseason. His responsibilities will include coordinating team camps, as well as serving as liaison for the Slam Dunk Club. Prior to coming to Colorado State Johnson spent the last eight years as a club coach in Colorado. He has spent time working with a wide variety of athletes on the fundamentals needed to compete at the high school level. Johnson spent the the 2000-2001 season as an assistant for the Arvada West High School girl?s basketball team, where he helped the team to a Sweet 16 appearance in the Colorado State High School tournament. From 1995-1999 he was an assistant coach at Wheat Ridge High School. Johnson graduated with a bachelor?s degree from DePauw University in 1995 and a master?s degree in sports management from Denver University in 2001.
Fox TV Show Preview: Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain will be airing a Colorado State basketball preview show on Dec. 2 at 9:30 p.m. Head Coach Chris Denker will be dicussing the Rams? upcoming season with host Keith Bleyer.
Sticking Together: In addition to adding two freshmen to the roster, the Rams also added three transfers. Sophomores Brianna Willhite and Liz Kramer join the squad after transferring from Cloud County Community College in Concordia, Kan. and juniorJustine Square joins the team after playing one year at Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colo. The duo of Kramer and Willhite led their team to a 25-7 record a year ago, including 11-5 in league. Last year Kramer was team captain and was sixth in the Jayhawk Conference in three-point field goal percentage and 10th in three point field goals made (60). Willhite averaged 13.5 points a game and was named to the All-Conference and All-Region second teams.
Denker at CSU: Since arriving in Fort Collins in 2002 Head Coach Chris Denker has compiled quite a resume. At CSU his overall record is 38-25 (.603) which includes a 16-12 conference record.
Coors-Rocky Mountain Invitational: For the 10th straight year Colorado State will play host to the Coors-Rocky Mountain Invitational tournament on November 26-27. This year?s field includes Holy Cross, UAB, Iona and Colorado State. There will be two games each day, the first at 5 p.m. and the second at 7 p.m., both nights. Last year Boston College won the tournament.
Starting Five: The Rams return three starters to the lineup this year. Junior Vanessa Espinosa, who led the team in scoring (12.9) as well as free throw percentage (.810) and three point efficiency (.455) a year ago will start at point guard. Junior Melissa Dennett, who was second on the team in scoring a year ago (12.6) will start at one forward position where she will be joined by three-year starter Lindsay Thomas at the other forward spot. A year ago Thomas led the team in both rebounds(209) and shooting percentage (.519) and was third in scoring average (12.0). Coach Denker has not made a decision as to who will fill the other two starting spots.
Sharing The Scoring Load: Colorado State?s offense did not center around one player last season. In 2004, the Rams had at least three players score in double figures in 23 of the 29 games. Furthermore, on 12 separate occasions, four or more players scored in double digits. Five different players led the team in scoring during a game and seven Rams scored in double figures in at least one contest.
Venekamp Ends Career: Rams senior Ashley Venekamp returned to the roster for a short time this season, but unfortunately suffered an injury in practice the week of October 18 and has taken a medical hardship. Venekamp will remain an active member of the team.The Fort Collins native sat out much of her sophomore year and all of last year after suffering a concussion. The last game Venekamp played in was against San Diego State on February 6, 2003. She averaged 3.1 points and 17.1 minutes for her career at Colorado State.
Nohr Out: Sophomore Molly Nohr will be out for at least two weeks after breaking her nose in practice on November 7. She had surgery on November 10 and will make an attempt to return to the lineup by the Coors Rocky Mountain Invitational on Nov. 26-27. Nohr will still be able to practice but must avoid contact. She will also be wearing a face mask the rest of the season.
