Women's Basketball Preview: MWC Tournament

March 6, 2006

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Game 28: Colorado State (8-19, 2-14 MWC) vs San Diego State (3-23, 0-16 MWC)
March 7, 2006  5:00 p.m.  Denver, Colo.  Pepsi Center (19,555)

The Matchup: No. 8 seed Colorado State will face No. 9 seed San Diego State in the opening-round game on Tuesday, March 7 at 5 p.m. MT. The meeting will mark the first contest between the two schools in the Mountain West Tournament. San Diego State leads the all-time series, 17-13, but was swept by the Rams during the regular-season series. Colorado State is 6-5 in the MWC Championship, while the Aztecs are looking for their first-ever win.

Scouting San Diego State: The Aztecs went 0-16 during the Mountain West Conference regular season and lost the two games to the Rams by a total of 16 points. Senior forward Michelle Strawberry is the only player averaging double figures in scoring with 13.2 and she is second on the team with 5.5 rebounds per contest. Junior Desiree Johnson leads the club with 5.6 boards per game. Senior guard Veronica Shaw leads the team with 57 assists and 43 steals, while Johnson has 36 blocks to lead the conference in blocks per game.

Last Time Out: Colorado State fell to the Air Force Falcons, 79-65, in the final regular-season game of the year at Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the Rams enter the Mountain West Conference tournament as the No. 8 seed. Senior forward Lindsay Thomas finished the game with 20 points for the Rams, setting a career-high against a conference opponent. She also pulled down eight rebounds. Junior forward Molly Nohr dropped 15 points and had a team-high five assists. Senior center Melissa Dennett also added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Rams while blocking four shots and junior center Marilyn Moulton tied for the game-high with 10 rebounds.

Mountain West History: Colorado State is 6-5 in Mountain West Conference Tournament games, winning the tournament in 2001. The Rams have never been the eight seed in the tournament and have lost in the first round the last two seasons. Colorado State and San Diego State have never met in the MWC Tournament.

Heating Up: After not taking a shot against Wyoming on Feb. 25, sophomore guard Sara Hunter has made 10 three-pointers in the last two games and scored 36 points, going 10-for-15 from beyond the arc in the two contests against BYU and Air Force. Last season in the MWC Tournament, Hunter nailed seven triples against BYU and scored a then-career-high 25 points.

20/20: Colorado State has had four players score 20 or more points in the last three games. Lindsay Thomas scored a season-high 20 points at Air Force, Sara Hunter notched a career-high 27 points against BYU on Thursday and Melissa Dennett (23) and Molly Nohr (20) both surpassed the mark against Wyoming. Thomas' 20 points marked the 14th time this season a Ram had passed the 20-point mark and she became the fifth player to do so, as Melissa Dennett has seven 20-point plus games this season, senior guard Vanessa Espinoza has three games, Hunter has done so twice and Nohr has done it once.

Boarded Up: Marilyn Moulton has been a force to be reckoned with on the boards lately. The junior has either led or tied for the team lead in the last two games and has 19 rebounds over that stretch. Moulton has 12 games this season with at least five rebounds in the game and two double-figure games, both on the road at San Diego State and Air Force.

Rewriting The Books: If the season were to end today, both the free throw percentage and three-point field-goal percentage records would be set by this year's team. The Rams lead the Mountain West in both categories, shooting .760 and .382, respectively.

Sultans Of Swat: Colorado State has blocked 15 shots in the last two contests, bringing their season average to 3.6 per game. For the year, the Rams have 97 blocks, which ranks fifth on the single-season charts and is the third highest total in the Mountain West this season. The record for most blocks in a CSU season is 111 by the 1999-2000 squad.

Land of the Free (Throw): Colorado State shot .818 (18-22) from the charity stripe in the regular-season finale against Air Force. It marked the 10th time this year the Rams have shot .800 or better from the free throw line in a game. The Rams rank among the top team's in the nation in free throw percentage, shooting .760.

Honored: Melissa Dennett was named to the Mountain West All-Conference Third Team in a vote by the league's head coaches. This is the third all-conference honor for the senior as she was a second-team selection last year and a third-team selection as a sophomore in 2003-04.

Double-Double Doubled: Melissa Dennett recorded the 19th double-double of her career with 11 points and 10 rebounds at Air Force on Saturday. Both Dennett and Lindsay Thomas are tied for fifth in school history with 19 double-doubles. The school record for career double-doubles is 37, held by both Janie Schieffelin and Teresa James.

Senior Moments: In the last four games, at least one of the three seniors have been perfect from the free throw line, with at least four attempts. Against Air Force, both Melissa Dennett and Lindsay Thomas were 5-for-5, while Vanessa Espinoza did the same against BYU. Against Wyoming, Thomas was 6-for-6 and at TCU, Thomas went 4-for-4. Thomas has made her last 15 attempts from the charity stripe.

Her Singing Inspires: Marilyn Moulton sang the national anthem prior to the game against BYU on Thursday and gave her that extra boost. Moulton led the team with nine rebounds in the game and scored seven points. The junior also blocked a career-high five shots in the contest, which ties for the second most in a game in school history. She also recorded three assists with no turnovers on the night.

Hunter Takes Aim: Sara Hunter connected on seven three pointers for the second time in her career, tying for the third most in a single-game in school history. The sophomore has now made 19 three-pointers in her last three games against BYU, making seven on Thursday and against the Cougars in the MWC Tournament last year and five at BYU in February.

Standing Alone: Melissa Dennett now ranks 10th in school history with 1,185 points, passing Jane Lange (1979-83) with 1,174. Lindsay Thomas also moved passed Lange with her 20 points at Air Force, giving her 1,177 career points. In ninth on the list is Karen Hosek-Kreuzer (1981-85) with 1,335 points.

Closing In: Sara Hunter is now just 11 points shy of scoring her 500th career point. The sophomore has 489 points, for an average of 8.9 points per game in her two seasons. Melissa Dennett is just 15 points shy of scoring her 1,200th career point, Marilyn Moulton needs two rebounds for 250 and Molly Nohr is two shy of 200.

Half-Dozen Dimes: The Rams have six players who have recorded at least 35 assists this season, the first time since the 2002-03 season the feat has been accomplished.

Connecting The Shots: Three times this season, Colorado State has shot over 55 percent from beyond the arc (minimum of 10 attempts). Against BYU, the Rams tied for the 14th best game in school history with a .563 night (9-16). Against Northern Colorado on Dec. 18, the Rams shot .692 (9-13) for the second best performance in school history and at Texas-San Antonio on Dec. 31, the Rams hit at a .643 (9-14) clip for the fifth best game at CSU.

Significant Improvement: Molly Nohr has nearly doubled her scoring average over the last year (4.6 to 8.9) and almost doubled her rebounding average (2.4 to 4.4). In her first two seasons, Nohr was just a 27 percent three-point shooter, while this season she is connecting at a .455 clip. Nohr Improvement Chart Category 03-05 05-06 Points Per Game 2.66 8.85 Rebounds Per Game 1.58 4.41 Field Goal Percentage .394 .411 Three-Point Field Goal % .273 .455 Assists/Game 1.32 3.48 Minutes/Game 11.76 29.81

Hammon Selected: Former Colorado State great Becky Hammon (1995-99) was chosen to play on the 2006 USA Women's Senior National Team European Tour. The National Team will play three games against top EuroLeague teams, beginning with a contest in Sopron, Hungary, on March 6 and concluding with a pair of contests in Gdynia, Poland, March 8 and March 9.

Senior Boards: Lindsay Thomas has notched at least five rebounds in 16 of the last 18 games and Melissa Dennett has done the same in 12 of the last 13. The duo account for 15.3 rebounds per game or 46.6 percent of the team's boards.

Lucky Number 14: Vanessa Espinoza became the 14th player in school history and the third Ram this season to surpass 1,000 career points as she now has 1,032. Seniors Melissa Dennett and Lindsay Thomas also eclipsed the one-grand total earlier this year and now have 1,174 and 1,157, respectively. It marks the first time in school history that three players have hit 1,000 points in the same season, though not the first time three 1,000 point scorers have played together at CSU.

Cleaning The Glass: Lindsay Thomas became just the seventh player in school history to record 700 rebounds with her last at UNLV. Thomas is the first player since Katie Cronin (1995-99) to grab her 700th board. She is now 29 shy of sixth place on the list (Jane Lange, 1979-83) with 721.

The Little Blocker: Molly Nohr became the first player under six feet tall at CSU to record 10 blocks in a season since Heather Haanen recorded 11 in 2000-01. Nohr is one of four Rams to have 10 or more blocked shots this season, as she is fourth on the team with 12.

She's Smart Too: Lindsay Thomas was recently named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII First Team for the third straight season and then was named to the All-America Second Team for the first time after being a third-team honoree in both 2004 and 2005. Thomas is an English and social work double major with a 3.99 grade point average.

Tick-Tock: Colorado State has three players averaging 30 or more minutes a game and two more that are at 29. Sara Hunter leads the team with 35.2 minutes per contest, while Vanessa Espinoza is at 32.5. Melissa Dennett averages 30.4, while Molly Nohr averages 29.8 and Lindsay Thomas is at 29.6 per contest.

Dump It Inside: Molly Nohr has 94 assists this season and 66 of those are to post players, or 70.2 percent. Nohr leads the team with 3.48 assists per game, which also ranks sixth in the Mountain West Conference and she is also fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.47.

Perfection Achieved: Colorado State, for just the third time in school history, was perfect from the free throw line in a game (minimum 10 attempts). The Rams were a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe, with Melissa Dennett, Lindsay Thomas, Vanessa Espinoza, Liz Kramer and Molly Nohr each sinking a pair. The other two times the team was perfect from the line both came against Mountain West foes. The Rams made 16-of-16 against Utah on Mar. 3, 1989, while they were 13-for-13 at Wyoming on Mar. 2, 1985.

Building Blocks: Colorado State has recorded at least one blocked shot in the last 68 Mountain West Conference games, dating back to a 62-57 victory over UNLV on Jan. 19, 2002. The Rams have also had at least one block in 26 of the 27 games this season, led by Melissa Dennett's 35.

Dynamic Duo: Lindsay Thomas and Melissa Dennett are now the most prolific shot blocking duo in school history. Dennett has 104 career blocks and Thomas has 82 for a total of 186. They passed the tandem of Shannon Strecker and Ashley Augspurger, who combined to block 175 shots during their careers (1999-2003).

Lots of Time: Lindsay Thomas has played in all 118 games during her career at Colorado State and has made 54 consecutive starts and 89 throughout the last four years. Vanessa Espinoza has missed just four games in her four seasons, playing in 114 and starting in 83, and had her string of 56 consecutive starts snapped at BYU. Melissa Dennett has played in 94 games for the Rams, breaking her consecutive string of 78 starts against Utah, where she came off the bench.

Hitting Their Shots: Colorado State leads the Mountain West Conference in three-point field goal percentage (.382) and free throw percentage (.760). In conference games only, the Rams finished second in three-point field-goal percentage at .372 and free throw percentage at .773 behind New Mexico in both.

Best In the Mountain West: Melissa Dennett leads the Mountain West Conference in rebounds per game with 8.5 a contest and is also on top in offensive rebounds with 3.15 per game. She is also fourth in scoring (14.7). Vanessa Espinoza ranks fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.422), while Sara Hunter is third in three-pointers per game (2.26) and Dennett is second in blocked shots (1.30).

Among The Nation's Leaders: Colorado State currently ranks 12th in the nation in free throw percentage (.756) and 19th in three-point field-goal percentage (.374). Statistics are through games played on February 27. The nation's leader in free throw percentage is Northern Iowa at .796.

Fan Support: Colorado State has had at least 1,000 fans attend each of the last 159 home games. The last time the Rams played at home in front of fewer than 1,000 fans was Jan. 5, 1996 when Colorado State faced Idaho State.

Quite A Stretch: Colorado State has hit at least one three-pointer in the last 131 games, dating back to Jan. 17, 2002 against San Diego State. In that contest, the Rams were 0-14 from beyond the arc. That game snapped a 232 game streak, dating back to a Nov. 25, 1994 victory over Pennsylvania.

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