Colorado State University Athletics
GAME NOTES: Women's basketball hosts BYU on Saturday
1/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Game 15
Colorado State (2-12, 0-1 MWC) vs. BYU (6-6, 0-0 MWC)
Jan. 12, 2008 | Fort Collins, Colo. | Moby Arena (8,745) | 2 p.m. MT
Opening Tip
Colorado State (2-12, 0-1 MWC) battles the two-time defending MWC regular-season champion BYU Cougars (6-6, 0-0 MWC) on Saturday afternoon at Moby Arena. The game is the Mountain West Conference home opener for Colorado State and is the conference premier for the Cougars who have not played since Dec. 19, a layoff of two weeks.
The game will be broadcast in Fort Collins on 90.5 FM KCSU, with Cole Weinman and Lance Moorman calling the action. Live Gametracker statistics will also be available on CSURams.com.
The Matchup
BYU begins defense of its second consecutive Mountain West Conference title at Moby Arena. The Cougars were idle during Wednesday's Mountain West Conference openers for the remaining eight teams in the league.
Colorado State looks to snap a five-game skid and open its home-conference slate on a good note with a victory over the Cougars.
The Cougars struggled in non-conference action away from the Marriott Center, posting a record of 2-4 on the road entering Saturday's contest at Moby Arena. However, BYU is riding a two-game winning streak, and has captured three of its last four contests.
About BYU
Head coach Jeff Judkins, a two-time MWC Coach of the Year, is in his seventh season at the helm of the Cougars program, where he has compiled a record of 132-68 and led his team to five postseason appearance since the 2001-02 season, including back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 2006 and 2007.
Last season, Judkins and the Cougars captured their second consecutive MWC regular-season championhip, posting a record of 23-10 (12-4 MWC).
This season BYU returned six letterwinners, including a pair of starters and were selected to finish third in the MWC preseason coaches' poll.
The team opened up the season by alternating wins ans losses for its first six games, beginning with a 61-50 victory at UC Santa Barbara. Following a Nov. 13 loss at Arkansas State (54-53) the Cougars opened their home slate with a 78-59 victory over Fresno State. Hartford upset the Cougars, 70-59, three days later at the Marriott Center and BYU bounced back for a 47-43 home win over Seton Hall, leading up to a matchup at nationally-ranked Connecticut. The Huskies rolled the Cougars, 80-34, sparking a three-game losing streak that saw BYU also fall at Sacred Heart (49-44) and at home vs. New Mexico State (54-52), who defeated the Rams (77-67) on Dec. 29.
The Cougars have returned to form, winning three of their last four contests, with the lone setback coming against another opponent common to the Rams' schedule, at Weber State (65-54). BYU's last three victories have come at the hands of Utah Valley State (72-52), UCLA (68-58) and at Utah State (70-64).
BYU's trio of senior guard Mallary Gillespie-Carling, senior center Lauren Riley-Varley and junior forward Shawnee Slade lead the Cougars' attack, each starting all 12 games this season. Gillespie-Carling, a second team all-conference and all-tourament honoree last season, paces the Cougars' offense with an average of 13.8 points per game (ninth in the MWC). She also ranks as the conference leader in 3-pointers per game (2.33), just ahead of CSU's Kandy Beemer (2.21) and Sara Hunter (2.14) who rank second and third, respectively, on that list.
Riley-Varley is one of the top rebounders and shot blockers in the conference, ranking second in both categories with 8.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. Offensively, she also ranks as one of the most efficient players in the conference, connecting on 51.1 percent from the field (third in the MWC) while averaging 8.6 points per game. Slade ranks third on the team in scoring at 7.7 points per game, connecting on 37.5 percent (15-for-40) from 3-point range to go along with 6.1 rebounds per game.
Overall, the Cougars rank last in the Mountain West conference in scoring offense (57.7 ppg.), but rank fourth in scoring defense, allowing just 58.2 points per game. The team is also one of the best rebounding squads in the conference, ranking second at 39.4 rebounds per game.
The Rundown
Colorado State is 22-43 in the all-time series with BYU. The Cougars have won eight straight contests dating back to the 2004-05 season.
2/14/75 L, 53-60 Provo 2/6/76 L, 54-58 Ft. Collins 1/20/77 L, 54-79 Provo 2/10/78 L, 62-93 Provo 2/17/79 L, 72-101 Ft. Collins 1/19/80 L, 67-138 Provo 2/15/80 W, 86-83 Ft. Collins 1/23/81 L, 71-85 Provo 2/28/81 L, 78-97 Ft. Collins 1/7/82 W, 88-80 Ft. Collins 2/6/82 L, 67-88 Provo 1/20/83 L, 61-89 Ft. Collins 2/17/83 L, 62-79 Provo 2/2/84 L, 60-77 Provo 3/3/84 L, 75-77 (ot) Ft. Collins 11/30/84L, 55-76 Corvallis 12/7/84 L, 61-76 Tempe 1/26/85 L, 63-99 Provo 2/21/85 L, 66-84 Ft. Collins 2/15/86 L, 55-93 Ft. Collins 2/22/86 L, 75-98 Provo 2/12/87 L, 67-84 Provo 3/5/87 L, 62-72 Ft. Collins 2/6/88 L, 73-75 Provo 2/18/88 W, 74-53 Ft. Collins 1/27/89 L, 68-88 Provo 3/7/89 W, 97-76 Ft. Collins 2/10/90 W, 87-72 Provo 2/23/90 W, 86-64 Ft. Collins 1/25/91 W, 80-75 (ot) Ft. Collins 2/23/91 L, 60-74 Provo 1/18/92 L, 77-83 Ft. Collins 2/13/92 L, 78-90 Provo 3/12/92 L, 65-85 Salt Lake 1/22/93 L, 61-74 Ft. Collins 2/20/93 L, 71-84 Provo 1/20/94 L, 77-86 Provo 2/12/94 L, 78-79 (ot) Ft. Collins 3/11/94 W, 67-57 Salt Lake 2/9/95 W, 83-70 Ft. Collins 2/18/95 L, 63-92 Provo 1/27/96 W, 82-80 (ot) Provo 2/15/96 W, 80-77 Ft. Collins 1/15/98 W, 81-75 Ft. Collins 2/12/98 W, 88-78 Provo 1/20/00 W, 63-52 Provo 2/17/00 W, 84-74 Ft. Collins 3/10/00 L, 69-77 Las Vegas 1/20/01 L, 55-66 Provo 2/15/01 W, 77-72 Ft. Collins 3/10/01 W, 59-56 Las Vegas 1/10/02 W, 81-64 Provo 2/09/02 W, 75-65 Ft. Collins 1/16/03 L, 56-71 Provo 2/15/03 W, 71-70 Ft. Collins 1/15/04 W, 54-52 Ft. Collins 2/14/04 W, 72-64 Provo 1/15/05 L, 54-74 Provo 2/10/05 L, 47-59 Ft. Collins 3/9/05 L, 65-70 Denver 1/28/06 L, 54-70 Provo 3/2/06 L, 67-69 Ft. Collins 3/8/06 L, 45-65 Denver 1/18/07 L, 56-69 Provo 2/17/07 L, 50-67 Ft. Collins
MWC Home Openers
Colorado State is 7-1 all-time in Mountain West Conference home openers, including a 1-1 mark under Jen Warden. The following is a list of Colorado State's MWC home openers:
1/15/00 - Wyoming W, 86-69
1/25/01 - Air Force; W, 63-50
1/17/02 - San Diego State; W, 81-64
1/23/03 - New Mexico; W, 56-71
1/15/04 - BYU; W, 54-52
1/20/05 - San Diego State; W, 50-68
1/05/06 - San Diego State; W, 68-65
1/11/07 - Utah; L, 57-73
Rams at Home vs. MWC
Colorado State women's basketball is 37-20 (.649) all-time at Moby Arena in the Mountain West.
UNLV Notables
Colorado State fell to 6-3 all-time in Mountain West Conference openers, and suffered its first such setback under Jen Warden (2-1 in MWC openers), falling by two at UNLV, 57-55, after rallying from a 13-point second half deficit.
Guard Sara Hunter paced the Rams with 11 points in the contest, snapping a three-game streak in which the the senior failed to reach double figures in scoring.
Freshman Bonnie Barbee and junior Amaka Uzomah, two players who had seen limited action early in the season, both contributed off the bench for the Rams, logging season highs in minutes played. Barbee provided a spark with two 3-pointers late in the contest, accounting for 6 points to tie her career high. Barbee also set a career best with three assists. Uzomah tallied her first career points as a Ram, spelling Juanise Cornell who was sidelined by early foul trouble. Uzomah, who had only seen 3 minutes of action in three games coming into the contest, tallied 9 minutes off the bench.
Junior Kandy Beemer connected on three 3-pointers, marking the sixth consecutive game in which she recorded at least two treys.
For the Record
Senior guard Sara Hunter continues to move up the career charts at CSU. Hunter is now just 6 points shy of 14th on the Rams' all-time scoring list and needs just three 3-pointers to reach 200 for her career. See Page 5 of this release to track Hunter's rise up the Rams' career record book.
Looking Ahead
The Rams head back out on the road to face the TCU Lady Frogs on Saturday, Jan. 19. The Frogs opened MWC action with an 86-63 victory over San Diego State on Wednesday. The team faces two tough road contests before playing the Rams, at Wyoming (Saturday) and at New Mexico (Wednesday).
