Rams Back at Home Sunday Against Northern Illinois

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Back in the confines of Moby Arena, the Colorado State women's basketball team will take on the Northern Illinois Huskies Sunday with a noon tip.

The Rams head into the game at 3-1, while NIU enters at 1-1 on the season.

Coach's Corner
-Head Coach Ryun Williams enters his eighth year at the helm with a 147-81 (.645) overall record – the winningest coach in CSU history.

On responding from the Idaho loss…
"Our student-athletes came home and got right back to work. That was great to see. We didn't play bad at Idaho. That was our best game of the year other than shooting the basketball. Our execution was really good. We fought like crazy to stay in that thing and give us a chance to win on the road, but we just didn't have the shots. We are certainly trending in the right direction."

On Northern Illinois…
"We have our work cut out for us on Sunday against a really good basketball team in the Mid-American Conference which I think is the best mid-major conference in the country. They return a player that two years ago was the one of the top scorers in the country [Courtney Woods]. They guard and score well, so this will be a tough team coming into Moby. Defensively, we will need to guard in transition well and locate their big scorers to make it difficult, but we must score as well, and finish plays. It'll be fun to compete against them."

Off The Tip

The Rams (3-1) look to bounce back at home on Sunday with a noon tip against the Northern Illinois (1-1) at Moby Arena. The last time out, Colorado State came up short despite a fourth quarter comeback at Idaho. Down 14 points heading into the final quarter, CSU scored 11 unanswered to claw back into it, but could not get over the hump. Graduate forward and redshirt-junior center Liah Davis led the Rams in scoring with a dozen apiece.
Just like the Vandals having an 8-day break before playing the Rams, the Huskies will have had a 6-day gap since their last game, which was an overtime win at North Dakota State. In the preseason Mid-American Conference poll, NIU was predicted to finish second in the west division and redshirt-senior guard/forward Courtney Woods was a Preseason All-MAC West Division Team recipient. The six-foot Woods has scored at least 20 points in both games this season with only two three-pointers, thus doing her damage in the paint and at the free throw line.
Familiar Faces for the coaching staff. NIU head coach Lisa Carlsen, CSU head coach Ryun Williams, and CSU assistant coach Rico Burkett all spent time at Wayne State (Neb.). Carlsen, then the assistant volleyball and head softball coach for the Warriors, was on the search committee when Williams was hired in 1998. Around the same time, Burkett was an assistant on the men's side and later the head men's coach for nine seasons.

STAMA • TEL • OPO • ULOS

Bringing grit from the land down under, freshman Katia Stamatelopoulos is making a presence on both sides of floor for the Rams.
Defensively, she ranks fifth in the nation in steals at 14 and first in the Mountain West.
Offensively, her 15 assists lead CSU, third in MW and 55th in the country. From the free-throw line, she is an efficient 13-of-16 (81.3%) - also best on the team.

Best Stretch for Liah

In four games, redshirt-junior Liah Davis has a share with the team lead in points with 42 (10.5 ppg.). It marks the best four-game stretch for Davis, besting that mark by one from last year in a span that included her career high 21 points. This streak has been more spread out with three games of 12 points, including two games of leading/sharing point lead for the Rams. She joins Megan Jacobs with the share of the scoring lead but has played 38 less minutes than Jacobs.

Scouting Northern Illinois

There isn't much of a sample size to look at for the Huskies being 1-1. NIU lost its season opener at home to Harvard who was pinned to finish third in the Ivy League but turned around and defeated North Dakota State on the road.
From last year's squad that went 19-13 overall and 10-8 in the Mid-American Conference, the Huskies return four starters and eight other letterwinners, while losing one and one, respectively. They trot out four newcomers for the 2019-20 campaign.
The Huskies lost its leading scorer that played every game last season but return Courtney Woods who had a better average in less games. NIU's leading rebounder returned in Ally May, but its top rebounder thus far is Riley Blackwell with 17 in two games.

For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball

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