No. 3-Seed Rams Primed for Mountain West Tournament

LAS VEGAS – Entering as the highest seed since 2017, the No. 3-seeded Colorado State will commence play in the 2021 Mountain West Women's Basketball Tournament Monday at 9 p.m. MT against No. 6 Boise State inside the Thomas & Mack Center.

This Ram team is a far cry from last year's squad that averaged 60.6 points and was ousted in the first round to Air Force. In his ninth season at CSU, head coach Ryun WIlliams turned that 12-18 team into a 15-5 team that finished 11-5 in the MW. The Rams take the league's No. 3 scoring offense and the No. 5 scoring defense into the tourney, while holding the top spot in the statistical categories of assist-to-turnover ratio, 3-point field goal percentage, and least turnovers per game. Individually, guard McKenna Hofschild leads the MW in assists and assists per game, while Tori Williams holds the top spot in 3-point field goals made.

"We just took the last couple days here to reset after a tough regular season where our student-athletes were outstanding," coach Williams said. "All things are new right now and we are excited to play a really good Boise team. Obviously, they will want to play better this time around than in our previous matchup this season. The Broncos have had great success in this tournament, so we know they will be ready to go and will give us a fight. Our student-athletes are in a good place mentally and are excited to go play."

Boise State concluded the season 13-8 overall and 10-8 in MW play. Back in late January, the Rams swept the Broncos with two 20-point wins in Boise. However, the Broncos do come into this tournament as the four-time defending champions.

Early Sunday morning, the conference released yearly awards that had two Rams named. McKenna Hofschild earned Newcomer of the Year after joining the Rams following her freshman season at Seton Hall. She is now linked to Ashley Augspurger (1999-00) as the only Rams to receive the honor. Hofschild also earned All-MW honors in addition to Lore Devos who picked up her first career conference accolade.

Fans who are missing being in-person at the 2021 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Men's and Women's Basketball Championships can now enjoy a new digital gameday with "The Mountain West Hoops Second-Screen Experience." Fans can enter the virtual gameday exclusively at www.MountainWestHoops.com on their smartphone or computer.

RAMS NOTEBOOK (Full Game Notes Attached)

Last Time Out
• The Rams suffered a sweep at New Mexico in a matchup of the top two teams in the MW for the regular season title. Game one was a two-point game late in the third quarter before the Lobos pulled away. Game two was a tie game with five minutes left, but a cold streak shooting followed for the Rams, giving NM the win and No. 1 seed. The main statistical difference in the series was from deep with the Lobos connecting on 10 treys in each game.

Busy Brooms
• The Rams swept five opponents in the regular season including four in the MW (San Diego State, Utah State, Boise State and Wyoming) - a feat last done in 2015-16 when CSU went 31-2 overall and 18-0 in conference play. That year, Ryun Williams' Rams won the MW regular-season title and the MW tournament before advancing to the NCAA tournament.

Keep Up
• Pace and scoring is the biggest change for these Rams as they have scored over 70 points in 14 of 20 games, easily surpassing last year's six. The last time CSU started a season with 14 of 20 games over 70 points was 1998-99 - the 2nd-highest scoring team (79.22 ppg) in CSU history. The current Rams are averaging 78.2 points per game for third in the MW and 18th in the nation. The 1997-98 team holds the scoring offense record at 80.87 ppg.

Under the Radar Defense
• The offense is getting a lot of attention, but Ryun WIlliams' staple defense is performing as well. For instance, Rams' defense held Boise State to eight CSU opponent-lows including total points and field goal percentage.
• The defense has kept its opponent under .400 shooting in 12 games and under .400 3FG shooting in 17 games.

Yin & Yang
• Yin & Yang is what Tori Williams and McKenna Hofschild call each other. The opposite styles are meshing well in the backcourt. Hofschild leads the MW in assist-turnover ratio and apg, while Williams leads 3FGM, and second in 3FG/G.
• McKenna Hofschild's 10 assists in the season opener was the most by a Ram since Grace Colaivalu in 2018. WIthin her 19 second-half points in game two of Wyoming, she scored 11 in the fourth quarter.
• Tori Williams has set new single-game career bests in points, rebounds, steals and minutes this season. Including her time at Utah, she has 165 total 3FGM, which would be eighth on CSU's all-time if all as a Ram.

Sharing the Rock
• The Rams are eighth in the nation in asst/turnover ratio (1.38), while leading the MW in the category. CSU's 285 assists and 14.2 apg are third and fourth in the MW, respectively. CSU has tied or outassisted all but six of their games. The Rams tallied a season-high 24 assists against Denver at home.

First Round Opponent Notes | #6 Boise State
• Boise State was picked to finish third - five spots ahead of CSU- in the MW preseason coaches' poll. Jade Loville was named All-MW, while Alexis Mark was put on the All-Defensive team and the All-Freshman team with Abby Muse.
• The Broncos finished 13-8 overall with a 10-8 MW record. They swept San Jose State, Utah State and Wyoming, while splitting SDSU, Nevada, UNLV and Air Force. They suffered sweeps from CSU and Fresno State.
• Last season, the Broncos finished 24-9 with a 13-5 MW record. As the No. 2 seed, Boise State went on to defeat Fresno State in the championship game for their fourth-straight MW Tournament title.
• In the regular season, CSU swept the Broncos at Boise with 20-point wins. The Ram freshmen duo of Ellie Boni and Cali Clark led the Rams in game one with 29 points and 17 rebounds in game one. Leaders, Lore Devos and McKenna Hofschild stepped up in game two with 17 and 16 points, respectively.
• Individually, Jade Loville leads the Broncos in points with 17 a game while Mallory McGwire controls the rebounding with an 8.6 average. Team-wise, BS goes into the tournament with the No. 5 scoring offense and No. 3 scoring defense in the league.

Series History: Colorado State – Mountain West Tournament
Appearances: 21
Record: 17-19
Championships: 2; 2001, 2016
Last Year: CSU 44, AF 49 in first round (2/27/20)
Record vs. Boise State: 0-3

A Colorado State Win on Monday Would Mean…
• First Ram win in the tournament since defeating Fresno State in the quarterfinals in 2018.

A Colorado State Win on Monday & Tuesday Would Mean…
• First Ram advancement to the finals since they won it all in 2016.

A Colorado State Championship Win Would Mean…
• The third Mountain West Tournament Championship in Colorado State history, joining 2001 and 2016.
• The second MW Tournament Championship for head coach Ryun Williams.
• The seventh time in CSU history to go to the NCAA Tournament and first since 2016 - Williams' first appearance with CSU.

How to Follow Along
Attached: Game Notes.
Mountain West Tournament Headquarters: http://csura.ms/3kXhs7A
Live Stats: http://csura.ms/2vssYSY
Live Stream: https://themw.com/watch/
Radio: KARS 102.9 FM | https://csura.ms/Listen

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

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