Women's Basketball Preview Game 27: New Mexico

Fate In Their Hands: Colorado State plays its final game of the Mountain West Conference season and will help determine the number one seed for the tournament. With a win over New Mexico, the Rams allow Utah to take the top seed, assuming a Utah win over San Diego State. If the Rams lose to the Lobos and the Utes defeat the Aztecs, the Lobos get the top seed for next week?s tournament.

Five In A Row: Colorado State won its fifth consecutive game with the 75-58 victory over Air Force to improve to 17-9 on the season. The Rams scored the first 10 points of the game and never looked back. Sophomore guard Vanessa Espinoza led the team with 18 points, while sophomore forward Melissa Dennett scored 15, freshman forward Kylee O?Dwyer tied her career-high with 13 points and sophomore center Lindsay Thomas chipped in 11. Freshman center Marilyn Moulton led the team with a career-high nine rebounds and senior guard Jasai Ferrucho notched her third double figure assist game of the year with 11. All nine players who played saw at least 11 minutes of action and scored at least two points in the contest. They all also notched at least two rebounds in the game.

Seniors Shine: Colorado State used a 28-point turnaround to win its fourth consecutive game, defeating Wyoming 60-49 on senior night in Moby Arena. Senior forward Joy Jenkins played her last game at Moby Arena and notched her season high in conference play with 18 points to lead the Rams. Fellow senior Jasai Ferrucho notched eight assists in the game to go with six points, including her first three-pointer in conference play and first since Jan. 9 against IPFW. Vanessa Espinoza was the other Ram in double figures with 11 points. Melissa Dennett tied her career-high with 11 rebounds but was held to just four points.

Oh So Close: With two more assists, Jasai Ferrucho will tie the Mountain West Conference record for assists in a conference season with 95. The current record is held by Erin Thorn of BYU from last season. Ferrucho also has 146 assists on the year which is 28 shy of tying the Colorado State record of 174 assists held by Becky Hammon from 1998-99.

Going For Six: A win against New Mexico on Saturday would mark the sixth straight win for the Rams. The Rams have not won six in a row since the 2001-02 team won six straight from Jan. 4 to Jan. 25.

The Long Ball: Freshman guard Sara Brown nailed her first career three-pointer against Air Force on Thursday. She is now 1-for-12 from beyond the arc in 17 games played.

Its In The Assist: Since the arrival of head coach Chris Denker the Rams are 28-3 when recording at least 15 assists in a game (17-1 in 2002-03 and 11-2 in 2003-04) and are just 10-19 when failing to dish the ball 15 times (4-12 in 2002-03 and 6-7 in 2003-04).

Super Smarts: Lindsay Thomas was named to the Verizon Academic All-American Third Team on Thursday. The sophomore was one of three student-athletes from District VII to be named to the All-American team and is the second women?s basketball player in two seasons (Shannon Strecker) to be named to the Third Team.

Moving On Up: Freshman guard Annika Walseth jumped up to third in the Mountain West Conference statistics in three-point field-goal percentage. She is connecting on .403 of her shots (27-67) from the three-point line against all opponents and she also ranks third against league foes, hitting .421 (16-38).

Injury Report: Freshman guard Molly Nohr is questionable for the game against New Mexico after spraining her ankle in practice earlier this week. She did not play against Air Force.

Hitting Half: In the last two seasons, the Rams are 14-2 when shooting above .500 from the field for a game. This season the Rams are 6-2, while last year?s team was 8-0.

Several Long Runs: Colorado State used a 15-2 run at the end of the Wyoming game to win, 60-49 and a 10-0 run to begin the game against Air Force. This season, the Rams have used several runs of eight points or longer, including a 21-point run in the first meeting against Air Force for the longest of the season.

Line Score: Colorado State is 17-1 this season when making the same amount or more free throws than the opponent. When the Rams do not make as many free throws as the opposition, they are 3-8.

On Pace: Jasai Ferrucho is on pace to end the conference season with more assists than points. The senior currently has 93 assists and 80 points. If she stays on her current pace, she will become just the third player in Mountain West history to tally more points than assists among starters and the first since the 1999-2000 season. Nikki Heckroth from New Mexico notched 54 points and 45 assists while Tiana Fuertes from Utah had 66 points and 64 assists. In the second half of conference play, Ferrucho has averaged 8.8 assists and 4.8 points per game. She also has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 5.30 in those six contests.

Road Trip: Colorado State has never swept the Air Force-New Mexico road trip since the inception of the Mountain West Conference. The Rams are 5-0 at Air Force, but 0-4 at New Mexico in the first four year?s of the league.

She?s Smart Too: Lindsay Thomas was named to the 2004 Academic All-District VII CoSIDA Women?s Basketball First Team. Thomas was one of six student-athletes named to the First Team in District VII, which includes schools from Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Thomas is an English and Spanish double major with a 4.00 grade-point average and is academically a senior in class standing.

Taking Care of the Ball: In the last six wins, Colorado State has had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. The Rams have 109 assists compared to 91 turnovers for a 1.20 ratio. This season, the Rams have a assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.96, with 397 assists and 415 turnovers. In league action, the Rams have 203 assists and 194 turnovers for a ratio of 1.05.

Queens Of The Mountain: The Rams lead in conference games in free throw percentage (.747), three-point field goal percentage (.372), blocked shots (3.31) and assists (15.62). The Rams also lead in assists against all opponents (15.27). Individually, Jasai Ferrucho leads in both categories in assists (5.62 against all opponents and 7.15 in conference) and in league play in assist to turnover ratio at 3.10. Vanessa Espinoza leads in three-point field goal percentage (.474) and Melissa Dennett leads in blocks with 1.38.

Floats & Shakes: Annika Walseth has 27 three-pointers this season, which ties for seventh most by a freshman in school history. Walseth is connecting on .403 of her three-point attempts to rank fourth among freshman in school history.

Shooting Guard: Vanessa Espinoza moved to the shooting guard position from the point guard position a few weeks ago and has led the team in scoring in three of the last four games, scoring at least 16 in each of those three games.

Did You Know?: With a win over New Mexico, Chris Denker will tie the longest winning streak of his career -- six games -- from when he coached at Santa Clara.

Crunch Time: In four of the last five games, CSU opponents have placed the Rams on the free throw line down the stretch to try to win. Against Wyoming, the Rams made 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in the last 1:05. Against UNLV, Rams combined to hit 6-of-8 free throws in the final minute. Against San Diego State, the Rams were 7-of-8 in the final 1:05 and were 7-of-8 in the last minute against BYU.

It?s Offensive: Lindsay Thomas is currently tied for seventh on the Colorado State single-season charts with 71 offensive rebounds, while Melissa Dennett is tied for 11th with 70 o-boards. The record is 92 held by Shannon Randles from the 1996-97 team and Thomas has the most by a Ram since Katie Cronin brought down 70 in 1998-99 where the Rams played 36 games.

Tournament TV: All women's tournament games will be produced by the Mountain West Conference. Colorado State's MWC Tournament first and second round games can be seen in Fort Collins on ComCast Channel 68. In all other locations please consult your local television listing or contact your local cable subscriber. The championship game begins at 4 p.m. Saturday, Mar. 13 and will be shown nationally on a taped-delay basis by ESPN2.

Close Count: In games decided by 10-points or less this season, the Rams are 4-6, however in games decided by more than 10 points, the Rams are 13-3.

Home Cooking: Head Coach Chris Denker is now 13-1 in Moby Arena against league opponents and 3-10 on the road in conference play since he started at the beginning of last season.

On This Date: Colorado State is 3-6 in games played on March 5. In Moby Arena, the Rams are 1-2, they are 1-3 on the road and sport a 1-1 record on a neutral floor.

Guard Duty: Colorado State is 16-2 when the two starting guards combine for 20 or more points. The two losses came at the hands of Boston College and Colorado. With Vanessa Espinoza and Jasai Ferrucho combining for 20 or more, the Rams are 14-2 this year and are 1-7 when the pair fail to reach the 20-point barrier.

Made To Be Broken: If the season were to end today, Vanessa Espinoza would break the single-season record for three-point field goal percentage at CSU. The sophomore is shooting .470 from beyond the arc (47-100). The CSU record for three-point field goal percentage is .440 held by Elizabeth English (44-100) from 1999-2000. Espinoza also sits first in career three-point field goal percentage at .426 (58-136) with a minimum of 75 attempts and is 15th with 58 three-pointers made.

Ram Record Book Against New Mexico:
* Two of the top four shooting games in CSU history have come against the Lobos. On Feb. 9, 1984 the Rams shot .634 from the field to rank third, while the team on Feb. 8, 1986 shot .615 from the field for fourth.
* On Dec. 4, 1983 the Rams set the school record for steals in a game with 30.
* In the 2001 Mountain West Tournament, the Lobos hit 11 three-pointers against the Rams, which ties for the third most made against CSU.
* In 1980, New Mexico?s Mary Readean hit 10-of-11 shots from the field to tie for the second best field goal percentage in a game against CSU (.909).
* Last season at New Mexico, Cristal Garcia nailed 6-of-7 three-pointers for the second best three-point field goal percentage in a game against the Rams (.857).

Tripled Up: CSU has made at least two three-pointers in its last 70 games, dating back to an 0-for-14 performance against San Diego State on Jan. 17, 2002. The Rams have also sunk at least one trey in 304 of the last 305 games, dating back to Nov. 25, 1994 against Penn in the first game of the season.

Coaches TV Show: The Ram Basketball Report airs each Saturday morning on ESPN2 (Channel 46 in Fort Collins), and repeats each Tuesday and Thursday (Channel 68).

Listen Live: Every Colorado State women?s basketball game can be heard over the airwaves this season and can also be found on the internet. Brian Roth announces the play-by-play for the fourth consecutive season and Corbu Stathes adds the color commentary for the third year in a row. The games can be heard live on KIIX 1410 AM or KCOL 600 AM on the Colorado State Sports Network and can be found by clicking on the purple Yahoo! icon on the front page of the CSU website at www.csurams.com.

Streaks, Milestones and Notes:
* Vanessa Espinoza and Joy Jenkins have hit at least one three-pointer each in the last 11 games.
* Ferrucho has 19 straight games with at least one assist and has only had one game this season without one and that was against Denver when she only played two minutes due to an injury.
* Thomas is two rebounds shy of her 300th career board.
* Jenkins needs four more steals for the 100th of her career.
* Jenkins needs 17 more rebounds for the 400th of her career.
* Melissa Dennett is 17 rebounds shy of her 200th career rebound.
* Espinoza has 12 straight games with at least one rebound.
* She also has eight straight games with at least one steal.
* Ferrucho has 19 straight games with a rebound.
* Kylee O?Dwyer has 22 straight games with a rebound.
* Jenkins has had at least two caroms in the 25 games this year and in her last 30.
* Thomas has at least two rebounds in each game this year. She has had at least one rebound all but one game in her career (60 games) and in 56 straight.
* All nine players that played against Air Force scored at least two points and had at least two rebounds. They all also had at least one turnover.

Home Court Advantage: Since the inception of the Mountain West, Colorado State is 31-4 in Moby Arena against league opponents. The Rams posted perfect 7-0 records in 2002 and 2003 and were 6-1 this season. New Mexico is 30-4 with its final home game against the Rams on Saturday afternoon.

Thrice Honored:
*Lindsay Thomas was named Mountain West Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 11, recording a career-high 19 points and 12 rebounds vs. Montana. Thomas added 12 points and seven rebounds in just 20 minutes against IPFW, hitting 6-of-9 shots from the field. For the week, Thomas averaged 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from the field.
*Melissa Dennett was named the Mountain West Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 15. Dennett scored a career-high 24 points at Denver. Dennett scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a 71-63 victory at San Francisco. For the week, Dennett averaged 19.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 53.1 percent from the floor.
*Vanessa Espinoza was named co-Mountain West Conference Player of the Week along with New Mexico?s Lindsey Arndt for the week of Feb. 23. Espinoza averaged 19.0 points, 4.0 assists and 3.5 steals per game, along with shooting .522 from the field, .500 from the three-point line (5-of-10) and .818 from the free throw line. Espinoza scored a career-high 22 points against UNLV and had five steals in the contest. Against San Diego State, she led the team with 16 points and in 72 minutes of play in the two games, committed just two turnovers.

Series Story: This will be the 47th meeting between New Mexico and Colorado State. The Rams are 16-5 in Moby Arena and are 10-11 in The Pit and have a 1-3 record on a neutral floor. Colorado State has not won in Albuquerque since 1998, dropping the last four games. The Rams won the meeting earlier this season 72-57 and are one of only two teams to defeat New Mexico in conference play this season. The most points scored in a game is 93 for the Rams and 95 for New Mexico while the fewest points scored is 42 for CSU and 45 for the Lobos. The largest margin of victory is 41 for the Rams and 35 for the Lobos, while the longest winning streak is nine for CSU and six for New Mexico. The Rams have won three of the last five meetings between the two teams. New Mexico and Colorado State have never played an overtime contest

Early Signings: Colorado State signed two student-athletes to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period in Nov.:
? Sara Hunter, a 5-6 guard from Fort Collins, Colo. (Rocky Mountain High School)
? Casie Shepherd, a 6-2 forward/center from Prior Lake, Minn. (Prior Lake High School)

Scouting The Opposition: New Mexico is 19-7 overall and 11-2 in Mountain West Conference play and can win the conference title with a win over the Rams. The Lobos are currently tied with Utah for the top spot in the league.
Junior Lindsey Arndt is averaging 10.0 points and 7.1 rebounds per game to lead the Lobos and she is the only player in double figures. Junior Mandi Moore has sunk a team-best 29 three-pointers on the season and leads with 113 assists and 40 steals. Senior Melissa Forest leads the team with 21 blocked shots.
New Mexico is averaging 62.1 points and 40.3 rebounds per game. They are shooting .404 from the field, .329 from the three-point line and .722 from the free throw line and are averaging 14.7 assists, 14.4 turnovers, 8.0 steals and 4.6 blocked shots per game.
In conference play only, Forest leads the team with 10.7 points and she and Arndt are tied for the team lead with 6.5 rebounds per game. Moore has hit 17 three-pointers, has 69 assists and 27 steals. Arndt leads with 10 blocks.
As a team, New Mexico is averaging 60.2 points and 37.2 rebounds and are shooting .425 from the field, .362 from beyond the arc and .745 from the charity stripe. They are averaging 14.0 assists, 15.8 turnovers, 7.2 steals and 2.8 blocks per game.
Don Flanagan is in his 9th season with the Lobos and sports a record of 185-88. His career record is identical.

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