Colorado State University Athletics
GAME NOTES: Women's basketball opens MWC Championships Tuesday
3/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 10, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Postseason
Phillips 66 Mountain West Conference Basketball Championships
March 11-15, 2008 | Las Vegas, Nev. | Thomas & Mack Center (18,500)
Opening Tip
Colorado State (2-27, 0-16 MWC) heads into the 2008 Phillips 66 Mountain West Conference Championships as the No. 9 seed. The Rams will begin the tournament against No. 8-seeded UNLV (8-21, 4-12 MWC) from the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev., on Tuesday evening. Game time is set for 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT with the winner advancing to play the top-seeded Utah Utes at 4 p.m. PT/5 p.m. MT on Wednesday.
Tuesday's game will not be televised. All quarterfinal and semifinal games are available live on The Mtn., while the championship game can be seen live on VERSUS.
All Colorado State games will be available 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. Gametracker can be accessed by clicking the link from the women's basketball schedule page, or on the calendar at the bottom of the home page.
MWC Tournament History
Colorado State enters the 2008 Phillips 66 Mountain West Conference Championships with a record of 7-7 all-time in MWC tournament action, including a 6-4 mark in tournament games held in Las Vegas, Nev.
In 2001, the Rams rolled to a 3-0 mark to capture the tournament championship. Last season, Colorado State was knocked out of the tournament as the No. 8 seed by the No. 9-seeded Air Force Falcons, in a 47-46 heartbreaker. The win marked the first ever for the Falcons in MWC tournament history.
Below is a listing of the Rams' record vs. each league foe at the MWC tournament:
Team Tournament Games Record
Wyoming - 4 (3-1)
BYU - 4 (1-3)
New Mexico - 2 (1-1)
Air Force - 2 (1-1)
San Diego State - 1 (1-0)
UNLV - 1 (0-1)
TCU - 0 (0-0)
Utah - 0 (0-0)
Totals - 14 (7-7)
Rams vs. The Mountain West
Colorado State women's basketball is 58-74 (.439) all-time in Mountain West Conference action.
Long-Range Rams
The Colorado State women's basketball team has relied heavily on its ability to shoot from long range, behind the 3-point prowess of senior Sara Hunter and junior Kandy Beemer. The Rams, who rank ninth in the MWC in overall shooting percentage (33.6 percent), shoot the exact same percentage from 3-point range, good enough for third in the league behind the nationally ranked Utah and Wyoming squads.
Hunter, who leads the Rams in scoring at 9.9 points per game, ranks second in the league in 3-pointers per game (2.17) and is seventh in 3-point percentage, connecting at a 38.4 percent clip.
Beemer, who recorded a stretch of 10 consecutive games, from Dec. 1 through Jan. 23, with at least one 3-pointer, ranks ninth in the MWC averaging 1.39 3-pointers per game. Her .375 shooting percentage also ranks ninth in the Mountain West.
Crashing the Boards
Colorado State ranks among the conference leaders in rebounding this season. The Rams' 38.1 rebounds per game in conference action ranks first among league teams. During its MWC schedule, Colorado State pulled down a conference-best 14.12 offensive rebounds per contest. A trio of Rams - Amaka Uzomah, Juanise Cornell and Elle Queen - rank among the Top 20 in the MWC in rebounding. Since becoming a regular in the lineup in early January, Uzomah has established herself as the top rebounder in the league. Her 9.1 rebounds per game against MWC teams ranks first in the conference. During the Rams' 16-game conference slate, Uzomah led or tied for the team lead in rebounding in 11 games. She reached double figures in eight games. Uzomah's 4.06 offensive rebounds per contests is also the top mark in the MWC. Cornell's 5.7 rebounds per game ranks 13th and Queen is tied for 16th with 5.3 rebounds per game. Queen's 151 total rebounds on the season also broke the single-season freshman record.
Starting for the Rams?
Senior guard Sara Hunter, who has played in 115 career games entering this week's tournament, started her 100th game on Feb. 24 at Air Force. Hunter has been the one constant in the Rams' starting lineup since the end of her freshman season, starting 94 consecutive games through the end of the regular season.
Aside from Hunter, nine different players have earned starts for the Rams, giving CSU nine different starting combinations throughout the course of the season. Juanise Cornell has started in 28 games for the Rams this season, coming off the bench - for the first time in her two-year career - at BYU and providing a spark that ignited a second-half comeback in Provo, Utah. Sophomore Elle Queen (26 games) and junior Carine Reimink (22 games) have started the majority of the Rams' contests. The combination of Hunter, Kandy Beemer (12 games), Queen, Cornell and Reimink started eight games together, including four straight from Dec. 19 (at Idaho) to the conference opener at UNLV on Jan. 9.
Sophomore guard Emily Neal slipped into the Rams starting lineup for five games beginning Feb. 13 at BYU before spraining her ankle against San Diego State on March 1.
Most recently the Rams have returned to their second-most prevalent lineup replacing Beemer with junior Britney Minor (14 starts). That combo has started seven games on the season, and the last two contests of the regular season.
The Rams Record Book
Several Colorado State players have etched their names into the CSU record book this season, most notably, senior guard Sara Hunter, who steadily moved up the career charts in a number of categories. See page 5 of this release to follow Hunt'ers climb up the career charts.
In addition to Hunter's career achievements, the senior guard tied a single-game record earlier this season with her eight 3-pointers against San Francisco in the Rams' triple-overtime home opener on Nov. 13. Hunter recorded two other Top 5 3-point performances, knocking down seven treys in home games against Utah and UNLV. Hunter needs just four 3-pointers to tie Jacque Johnson's mark of 67 from the 1999-2000 season and move into fifth place on the single-season charts. Hunter's 164 3-point attempts this year rank seventh and her .384 clip from long range is 16th in a single season.
Amaka Uzomah's 18-rebound effort against Wyoming on Jan. 26 ranks ninth in school history. Twice this season Uzomah recorded seven offensive rebounds in a game, tying for 12th on the single-game charts. Uzomah's team-leading 7.74 rebounds per game rank just out of the Top 20 in school history, while her 66 offensive rebounds comes in at 20th.
Junior Carine Reimink's team-most 29 blocks ranks tied for 12th in a single season at Colorado State. Kandy Beemer set a record for a junior at CSU with seven 3-pointers at Portland.
As a team, the Rams' 146 3-point makes rank ninth in a single season and their 434 3-point attempts and 33.6 3-point percentage are both 11th.
Rams freshmen are getting into the act as well. Forward Elle Queen recorded five offensive rebounds on three different occasions, tying for 10th in a single game by a freshman. Her 95 free-throw attempts and 151 rebounds rank fifth and eighth, respectively, on the freshman charts, and her 62 offensive boards established a new freshman record. Lauren Young's 19 blocks rank fifth all-time among freshmen.
All Conference
Senior guard Sara Hunter, the Rams' leading scorer, was selected Monday to the All-MWC honorable mention team. It marks Hunter's second-career honor, as she was selected as a third-team all-MWC selection in 2006-07.
