Rams Conclude Regular Season with Border War

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Not all the spots in next week's Mountain West Tournament are spoken for so Wednesday's regular season finale between Colorado State and Wyoming has more than Border War bragging rights on the line.

The second game of the Border War is scheduled to tip off at 6:30 p.m. MT inside of UW's Arena-Auditorium and will be broadcasted on Mountain West Network. Less than two weeks ago, the Rams defeated the Cowgirls, 56-45, at Moby Arena.

With the win last month, Colorado State improved its stance in the all-time series record to 54-51. However, the two schools disagree on that number with Wyoming crediting two games in 1973-74 prior to CSU's first official team in 1974-75 therefore the Cowgirls insist the series is 54-53 in CSU's favor.

The first two spots in the Mountain West standings are set in stone with regular-season champion UNLV and runner-up New Mexico. The next six seeds all will come down to the final day's games with plenty of scenarios. Wyoming (10-6) is in the mix with Nevada (10-6) and Air Force (10-7) on a spot as high as the three-seed but could be as low as the five-seed. The Rams on the other hand need a win to stay in the sixth-seed or risk falling to as low as the eight-seed.

"When we played Wyoming at home the other week, they were the hottest team in the conference with six wins in its past seven games, and now its eight of 10" head coach Ryun Williams said. "We won in a spirited game, but Wyoming rebounded immediately and beat two tough teams including the conference champions. Wyoming certainly has had this game circled on their schedule since the loss in Moby and with Wednesday being senior day there will be even more heightened emotions. Our team knows we are going into an environment that will be like a tournament setting and we are excited for the challenge."

UW (14-11, 10-6 MW) was picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West. The Cowgirls have won eight of their past 10 games, including two in a row against both teams (SDSU, UNLV) that just handed CSU losses at home. For the second time this season, Wyoming swept the MW's Player of the Week Awards as McKinley Bradshaw and Allyson Fertig garnered Player and Freshman of the Week, respectively. Bradshaw averaged 26.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game while shooting 54.1-percent (20-37) from the field overall and 9-of-19 (47.4-percent) from 3-point range. Fertig, meanwhile, averaged 7.5 points per contest in the two wins but pulled down 12 boards per game during the week and averaged three blocks per contest. Wednesday will be Senior Night in Laramie as three seniors, Tommi Olson, Alba Sanchez Ramos and Quinn Weidemann will be honored prior to the game.

RAMS NOTEBOOK

Last Two Times Out
• The Rams lost their second game of the season to San Diego State on Thursday and then dropped Saturday's lone regular-season contest against UNLV on Senior Day. Against the Aztecs, the Rams shot 26.5% from the field in the second half after shooting 51.7% in the first half. An Upe Atosu 3 made it a two-point game with 3:23 left, but CSU proceeded to miss its final eight shots and go 1-of-2 shooting from the free-throw line, leading to SDSU's comeback win. Similarly, the Rams shot 44.1% in the first half against the Lady Rebels, but an abysmal 23.1% third-quarter shooting clip and a 25-10 scoring differential swayed the game to UNLV's favor. The Lady Rebels secured the MW title with the win. Colorado State is 12-3 on the season when leading at the break.

What to Watch for vs. Wyoming?
• CSU Scoring Offense (69.3; #3 in MW) vs. UW Scoring Defense (58.7; #2 in MW)
• CSU Field Goal Percentage Defense (38.0%; #1 in MW) vs. UW FG% Defense (38.9%; #2 in MW)
• CSU Rebounding Margin (-1.85; #6 in MW) vs. UW Rebounding Margin (+7.20; #2 in MW)
• CSU McKenna Hofschild Scoring (16.3 ppg, #2 MW) vs. UW's McKinley Bradshaw Scoring (15.6 ppg, #3 MW)

Scouting Report on Wyoming
• For the second-straight season, junior McKinley Bradshaw (15.6 ppg) is leading the team in scoring. She dropped a career--high 33 points at San Jose State on Valentine's Day. Last season, she scored 23 points in the two games vs. the Rams. The top UW scorer in both games was Quinn Weidemann with 14 and 15 points.
• Recently, the Cowgirls outscored the Aztecs 26-9 in the fourth quarter to surge away late from SDSU. In the last seven games, the Cowgirls are averaging 16.4 assists per game, including a season-high 21 assists in the win at New Mexico February 5. Over that seven-game span, UW is assisting on 67-percent of its made field goals.
• Despite going 8-8 in conference play last season, the Cowgirls rallied off four wins in the conference tournament to claim the title as a No. 7 seed. They advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008.

Upe There It Is
• Upe Atosu has led the team in scoring seven times. She has 13 straight games of double-digit scoring outputs, including four 20+ games in that stretch. Seven of her nine career 20+ scoring games are from this season.
• In her third year at the NCAA level, she has eclipsed her season-best totals in several categories including points, field goals, 3s, games started, game played, minutes, steals and free throws. To tie in the other categories: rebounds (3), blocks (1), and assists (6).

Assist Legend in the Making
• McKenna Hofschild is on pace (assuming there is only 2 more games) for 193 assists this season, which would set the CSU single-season assist record. Against Utah State, she tallied 13 assists to jump from outside of the top 10 to eighth and dropped one of Dee Dee Dominguez's marks (1995-96, 132) off the top 10 list.
• She already obtained the CSU single-game assist record at Utah State with 17. In the MW record book, it is second.
• Career-wise at CSU, that same projection would put her assist total at 307. Last season, the MW Newcomer of the Year had 114 in 21 games played. CSU's career assist top 10 starts at 301. The junior has another season of eligibility. She had 31 assists at Seton Hall as a freshmen.

SINGLE SEASON ASSIST LIST
Rank      Player (Season)                                Assists
1.            Ellen Nystrom (2015-16)               186
2.            McKenna Hofschild (2021-22)      180
3.            Becky Hammon (1998-99)            174
4.            Ellen Nystrom (2016-17)               173
5.            Becky Hammon (1997-98)            161
6.            Jasai Ferrucho (2003-04)               158
7.            Deb Spickler (1981-82)                  151
8.            Gritt Ryder (2013-14)                     148
9.            Dee Dee Dominguez (1994-95)    143
10.         Dee Dee Dominguez (1992-93)    136

Protecting the Rock Better than ALL
• CSU continues to lead the NCAA in turnovers per game (9.9) and is fourth in assist to turnover ratio (1.48). Last season, CSU finished second and fifth, respectively, in those two categories. This season the Rams have had the same or less turnovers than their opponent in 16 of 27 games. Also, CSU has 13 games with single-digit turnovers with eight coming in conference play.

Murphy Approaching Milestones
• Karly Murphy needs eight points to reach the 1,000-point career mark. Prior to her time at CSU, she tallied 267 points twice at Wisconsin Green Bay to total 534 points. In her other two seasons, she was redshirted (2016-17) and was hurt in the first game of the season (2018-19). Her 290 points this season is a career best.
• Karly Murphy is third in the MW in boards per game (9.12) and second in total rebounds (237). She is on pace (assuming there is only 2 more games) to have 255 rebounds, which would be flirting with CSU's top 10 list for a season that starts at 248. She has already passed her previous single-season high of 146. At Air Force, she grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds.

Hitting the Free Shots
• 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. Trying to replicate that success, CSU is 297 for 384 (77.3%) from the charity strike thus far, ranking 18th in NCAA. The trio of Karly Murphy, McKenna Hofschild and Upe Atosu are 249-of-314 for 79.3%. That means the rest are 48-of-70 for 68.6%.
• The Rams have seven games under .700 from the line and six above .900.
• At San Jose State, the Rams went 30-for-31 for a 96.8% clip - good for second all-time in CSU history. Upe Atosu (12-12) and McKenna Hofschild (11-11) tied the single game FT% record as well.

At the Helm
• A two-time Mountain West Coach of the Year and the winningest coach in program history, Ryun Williams enters his 10th season at the helm of the Colorado State women's basketball program in 2021-22. CSU's 5-0 start marked the first since the 2000-01 campaign. The win over Boise State made it the sixth time the program has started 10-1. For Williams it is his second such start, joining the 2015-16 team that finished 31-2 overall, winning the MW outright and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Williams and Tom Collen ('97-98, '98-99, '00-01 and '01-02) are the only CSU coaches to have 10-1 starts. Williams is 12-9 all-time versus Wyoming.

Series History: Colorado State – Wyoming
Overall: CSU leads, 54-51
In Fort Collins: CSU, 29-21
In Laramie: UW, 20-27
Neutral: CSU, 5-3
Current Streak: CSU, 3
Last: UW 45, CSU 56 (2/17/21) at CSU
Largest CSU Victory: 41
Largest CSU Defeat: 60
More on the matchup on pg. 5& 8 of the Game Notes

A Colorado State Wednesday Win Would Mean…
• The Rams would lock up the No. 6 seed for the MW Tournament and CSU's win streak against UW would be at four games.

How to Follow Along
Attached: Game Notes.
Live Stats: http://csura.ms/WBBStats
Live Stream: http://csura.ms/Live
Television: Mountain West Network
Radio: Power 102.9 | https://csura.ms/Listen
Audio Stream: Varsity Network | https://csura.ms/VarsityNetwork

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

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