Rams Back Home Sunday at Noon

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A stretch of five games in 15 days continues Sunday for Colorado State women's basketball with a noon tip off against Lipscomb at Moby Arena.

After Thursday's win over Denver, the Rams are 4-0 for the second time in head coach Ryun Williams' era, joining last season's start. Standing in the way of the Rams' first 5-0 start since 2001-02 are the Lipscomb Bison. CSU will enjoy a six-day break after Sunday's game.

"The start to the season has been filled with a lot of games in a short amount of time and this group has done a tremendous job maneuvering through it," head coach Ryun Williams said. "Not just because of being 4-0, but because each game they have upped their game in terms of assignments, preparedness and competitiveness. The job is not done though with this game on Sunday against a quality Lipscomb team. After those 40 minutes, our team will be able to rest the bodies and minds for a few days."

Lipscomb (1-2) began its season with back-to-back losses at BYU and Utah before obtaining a home win against Shorter. LU was picked to finish fourth in the A-SUN League Preseason Coaches' Poll.

RAMS NOTEBOOK (Full Game Notes Attached)

Preseason Mountain West Awards
• The Preseason Mountain West awards came out on Oct. 13th and pinned the Rams to finish fourth in the 11-team conference. Additionally, Hofschild was named to the five-person All-MW team. The Prior Lake, Minn, native started every game last season, averaging 13.4 points and led the MW in assists with 5.4 per game en route to being named the MW Newcomer of the Year and earn an All-MW nod.

Last Time Out
• The Rams breezed past Denver, 67-43, on the back of McKenna Hofschild and the defense collectively. Hofschild poured in a career-best 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting with four 3-pointers. Defensively, CSU held its third opponent to under 50 points and second opponent to shoot less than 30% from the floor. The Pioneers' scoring leader, Meghan Boyd, went scoreless and fellow senior guard, Anna Jackson, to just two points. The explosive 22-8 third quarter broke it open.

Hot Starts
• Hot starts for returner Karly Murphy and newcomers Upe Atosu and Kendyll Kinzer. The latter has scored at least eight points in each game, including scoring in double digits for the first three games. Atosu's 44 total points (11.0 ppg) is her best start to a season through four games. Up until Hofschild's outburst, Murphy led the Rams in scoring and rebounding despite averaging the fifth-most minutes, and is in the best rebounding stretch of her career (41 rebs).

Early Defensive Trends
• The Rams have held all their opponents to 60 points or less and under 35% shooting. CSU boasts the conference's No. 1 scoring defense (47.8 ppg) that checks in at No. 9 nationally. The Rams are No. 2 in field goal defense (31.5%) for the Mountain West . The 22 blocked shots are the best in the conference with Sydney Mech leading the efforts with a MW-best nine blocks that is 16th in the country.

Double-Digit Scoring Rams
• In the first three games, four Rams have dipped into double digits for points. Kendyll Kinzer is the only one to do so all three times, while Upe Atosu, Karly Murphy, McKenna Hofschild each have done so twice. The one offs include Cali Clark, Anna Prim, and Sydney Mech. Murphy and Hofschild were the only two in double digits at Denver.

Finding the Right Group
• Three different starting lineups occupied the first three games, but the Rams have now gone back-to-back with the same starting five. The three constants who have started each game are Hofschild, Atosu and Kinzer. Mech did miss the opener due to injury precaution. More on this on page nine.

From the Line
• Last season, Ryun Williams' squad ranked 19th in the nation in free-throw percentage at 76.3%, which also went down as the second-best percentage in CSU history. Picking up where they left off, CSU is 33 for 39 from the charity strike thus far. Karly Murphy is a perfect 8-of-8, while McKenna Hofschild is 12-of-15. The Rams are second in the Mountain West in FT% (.846) and ninth in the country.

Back to a Normal November & Non-Conference Hustle
• Last year, the Rams played three games in the opening month of play. This year, CSU has six games on the docket for November. Then in the first week of December, CSU goes to their first non-conference tournament since the Navy Classic in 2015. For the Arizona State Classic, CSU will play Harvard and UTSA.

Series History: Colorado State – Lipscomb
Overall: First Meeting
In Fort Collins: -
In Nashville:
Neutral Sites:
Current Streak:
Last Meeting:
Largest Margin of Victory:
Largest Defeat:

A Colorado State Thursday Win Would Mean…
• The first time Ryun Williams has started the season 5-0.

How to Follow Along
Attached: Game Notes.
Live Stats: http://csura.ms/WBBStats
Live Stream: http://csura.ms/Live
Radio: KARS 102.9 FM | https://csura.ms/Listen
Gameday: http://csura.ms/WBBGameDay

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

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Players Mentioned

Upe Atosu

Cali Clark

McKenna Hofschild

Kendyll Kinzer

Sydney Mech

Karly Murphy

Anna Prim

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