Colorado State University Athletics
Women?s Basketball Preview ? The Mountain West Tournament
3/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Tournament Time: For the second straight season and the fourth time in the five years of the Mountain West Conference Tournament, the Colorado State women?s basketball team will face the Wyoming Cowgirls in the first round of the tournament. The Rams are 3-0 against the Cowgirls in the first round and the pair split the regular season meetings with each team winning on its home court.
Falling Short: Colorado State dropped its final game of the regular season, 59-52 at New Mexico. The Rams have lost five straight games at The Pit, dating back to a 1998 victory for CSU. Sophomore forward Melissa Dennett led the Rams with 17 points, senior forward Joy Jenkins added 14 -- 13 coming in the first half -- and sophomore guard Vanessa Espinoza chipped in 11 in the loss. Sophomore center Lindsay Thomas led the team with seven rebounds and Espinoza had a team-high six assists.
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. Vanessa Espinoza led the team with 18 points, while Melissa Dennett scored 15, freshman forward Kylee O?Dwyer tied her career-high with 13 points and 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.
Made To Be Broken: Jasai Ferrucho became the Mountain West Conference record holder in the assists category on Saturday. The senior had three assists against New Mexico to eclipse the league record for assists in a conference season with 93. She breaks the old record of 92 held by Erin Thorn of BYU from last season.
Postseason Border Wars: The Rams and Cowgirls have met in post-season play on five different occasions with the Rams posting a 4-1 record, including two wins last season.
Quiet Bench: On Saturday, the bench players contributed only four of the 59 points against New Mexico and all four came from freshman Marilyn Moulton. It was the first game since the first meeting with New Mexico -- a span of eight games -- the Rams did not have double figures in scoring off the bench and the four points ties for the second lowest total all season (3 vs Notre Dame).
Sharing The Scoring Load: Colorado State?s offense is not centered around one player. The Rams have had at least three players score in double figures in 21 of the 27 games and on 10 occasions four or more have scored in double digits. Four different players have led the team in scoring during a game this season and seven Rams have scored in double figures in at least one contest.
One More: Senior Joy Jenkins is currently tied for 18th on the career scoring charts with 821 points. She is knotted with Cindy Wittebort (1974-78) and with her next point will take over 18th for herself. Jenkins is 50 points shy of 17th.
Hitting Her Shots: In the last five games, Melissa Dennett is shooting .632 from the field, quite a bit above her season average of .519. The sophomore has hit 24-of-38 from the field and is also leading the team in rebounds, averaging 6.2 over the last five contests.
Super Sophs: The three sophomores in the starting lineup (Melissa Dennett, Vanessa Espinoza and Lindsay Thomas) are the top three scorers on the team and are combining for 56.9 percent of the team?s scoring and are averaging 37.9 points and 16.7 rebounds per game.
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 10-20 when failing to dish the ball 15 times (4-12 in 2002-03 and 6-7 in 2003-04).
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 .391 of her shots (27-69) from the three-point line against all opponents and she also ranks third against league foes, hitting .400 (16-40).
Did You Know?: Colorado State has never been the four-seed in any conference tournament. The Rams have had the one seed on three occasions, have been twice three times and third once. They have also been fifth once, sixth twice, seventh once and have never been the eight seed.
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: In the last three games, the Rams have scored at least 10 straight in each game. Colorado State used a 15-2 run at the end of the Wyoming game to win, a 10-0 run to begin the game against Air Force and a 14-2 run to end the first half at New Mexico. This season, the Rams have used 36 runs of eight points or longer, including a 21-point run in the first meeting against Air Force for the longest of the season.
Did You Know, II: No player this season has led the Rams in scoring, rebounding and assists in the same game. The last time a player led in all three categories was Dec. 23, 2002 at Notre Dame when Ashley Augspurger had team highs with 19 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
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 3-9.
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.
Playing The Percentages: Colorado State does not win games when shooting between .350 and .400 from the field. The Rams are 0-4 this season when shooting between those percentages. When shooting below .350 the Rams are 2-1 and are 15-5 when shooting above .400 from the field. The Rams are also 15-4 this season when shooting better from the charity stripe than the opponent.
Queens Of The Mountain: The Rams won statistical titles in conference games in three-point field goal percentage (.362) and assists (15.50). The Rams also lead in assists against all opponents (15.22). Individually, Jasai Ferrucho leads in both categories in assists (5.52 against all opponents and 6.86 in conference) and Melissa Dennett leads in blocks with 1.29 against conference opponents.
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 .391 of her three-point attempts to rank fifth among freshman in school history.
Crashing The Boards: Colorado State has either recorded the same amount of rebounds or outrebounded 10 of the last 12 opponents. The Rams are averaging 36.9 rebounds per game, compared to 34.5 for their opponents for a +2.4 rebounding margin this season.
It?s Offensive: Lindsay Thomas currently ranks third on the Colorado State single-season charts with 76 offensive rebounds, while Melissa Dennett is tied for eighth with 71 o-boards. The record is 92 held by Shannon Randles from the 1996-97 team and Thomas has the most by a Ram since Zenarae Pieters grabbed 74 offensive rebounds during the 1995-96 team.
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 4-7, 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 3-11 on the road in conference play since he started at the beginning of last season. He is also 1-1 against league opponents on a neutral floor from last season?s Mountain West Conference Tournament.
On This Date: Colorado State is just 1-5 in games played on March 10. The Rams have never played in Moby Arena on the 10th and are 0-3 on the road and 1-2 on a neutral floor. The last game on March 10 was the championship game of the 2001 MWC Tournament where the Rams won a 59-56 decision over BYU at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas to earn the league?s automatic berth to the NCAA Championship.
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 just 1-8 when the pair fail to reach the 20-point barrier.
Swarming Defense: Colorado State is holding its opponents to just 59.56 points per game this season, which is the third best defensive team in school history and the best since the inception of the shot clock and the three-point line. The record for fewest points per game allowed is 49.06 by the 1974-75 team.
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 .462 from beyond the arc (48-104). 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 .421 (59-140) with a minimum of 75 attempts and is tied for 13th with 59 three-pointers made.
Ram Record Book Against Wyoming:
Tripled Up: CSU has made at least two three-pointers in its last 71 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 305 of the last 306 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).
Streaks, Milestones and Notes:
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 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.
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 also 31-4 at home over that time span.
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.
Early Signings: Colorado State signed two student-athletes to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period in Nov.:
Series Story: The longest standing rivalry in CSU history, this will be the 66th meeting between the two teams. The Rams hold the 39-26 all-time advantage, as well as the 3-1 advantage on a neutral floor. The two teams split the regular season meetings and the Rams have won three of the last four meetings.
Scouting The Opposition: Wyoming finished the season in fifth place in the league standings, its highest finish in the Mountain West. The Cowgirls are 10-17 overall and were 6-8 in league action. Both Colorado State and Wyoming were 2-5 in conference play on the road.
Ashley Elliott leads the team with 16.7 points per game and has hit 72 three-pointers this season and is the only Cowgirl averaging double figures in scoring. Freshman Michelle Lieber leads the team with 6.3 rebounds a game and senior guard Brenda Pickup leads with 137 assists and 71 steals.
Wyoming is averaging 52.4 points and 32.1 rebounds per game and is allowing 57.5 points and 34.3 rebounds per contest. The Cowgirls are shooting .358 from the field, .316 from the three-point line and .707 from the free throw line. They are averaging 11.1 assists, 16.8 turnovers, 6.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per game.
In conference play only, Elliott led the way with 17.1 points while Pickup was second with 10.9 per game. Lieber led the team with 5.4 rebounds. Pickup ended with 59 assists and 41 steals to lead the team and Elliott connected on 35 three-pointers.
Wyoming averaged 55.1 points and 30.6 rebounds while allowing 56.1 points and 34.6 rebounds per game. They shot .382 from the field, .315 from the arc and .742 from the charity stripe and averaged 11.4 assists, 14.1 turnovers, 6.7 steals and 1.1 blocks per game.
Joe Legerski is in his first season with the Cowgirls after spending the previous 12 at Utah as either an assistant or associate head coach.
