Colorado State University Athletics

Rams Ready for Postseason Action in WNIT
3/16/2022 2:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Colorado State Travels to Portland for First Round Play
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Looking to continue the roll experienced in the first three games of the Mountain West Tournament last week, Colorado State will begin play in the Women's National Invitational Tournament Friday at Portland with an 8 p.m. tip off in the tournament's first round.
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This season's invite to the WNIT marks CSU's seventh time in program history and the fifth time under head coach Ryun Williams. The last WNIT appearance came in 2018 when CSU defeated Western Illinois at home and then lost at South Dakota. Williams also brought CSU teams to the WNIT in 2014, 2015 and 2017. The Rams have now achieved at least 20 wins six times under Williams' tenure, which breaks Williams out of a tie with Collen for the most 20+ win seasons in CSU history.
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"There are a lot of good teams in this tournament that all have a little bit of a chip of their shoulders – us being one of them" head coach Ryun Williams said. "We put together three of our best games of the season in the conference tournament but fell just short of winning it all and going on to the NCAA Tournament. Our mission going into the WNIT is to continue that success that we captured here late in the season and test ourselves against some other great teams in a postseason tournament atmosphere."
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Portland (19-10, 8-7 WCC) finished fourth in the West Coast Conference standings and then lost to No. 20 BYU in the semifinals of the conference tournament. This is just the third time in program history and the first time since the 2008-09 season that the Pilots have been invited to play in the WNIT. The Pilots are led by Alex Fowler who was named to the All-WCC First Team for the third year in a row. Fowler was fourth in the conference in points per game at 17.4 and rebounds at 7.8, while sporting the conference's best field-goal percentage at 54.1%. Lucy Cochrane earned All-WCC honorable mention after breaking the school record for blocks in a season at 110. She currently leads the nation in blocks per game at 4.1. The Pilots will be without Haylee Andrews, a second team recipient, after suffering a season-ending injury.
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If CSU defeats the Pilots, the Rams will advance to play the winner of Oregon State and Long Beach State in the second round of the 64-team tournament.
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RAMS NOTEBOOK
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Postseason Awards
•  Upe Atosu was named MW Newcomer of the Year, while also picking up All-MW honorable mention honors. McKenna Hofschild earned All-MW for the second straight season.The Preseason Mountain West awards pinned the Rams to finish fourth in the 11-team conference.
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Team Balance
•  Colorado State is the only team in the Mountain West that rank in the top five for scoring offense (69.2 ppg) and scoring defense (62.7 ppg). The Rams occupy the fourth spot in both categories. The Rams lead the conference in field-goal percentage defense, allowing a 37.3% shooting clip to its opponents.
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Missed the Mech Blocks
•  Sydney Mech, a six-foot-2 forward, has missed 11 games this season due to injury. However in her 21 games played, she has a team-best 38 blocks for an average of 1.8 a game and has at least one block in 17 games. The 38 blocks is tied for eighth all-time in a season at CSU. Four blocks put her in fifth place all-time.
• Against Oral Roberts (11/15), she had eight for the second-most in CSU history as a part of the team's total of 11, which tied for the fourth-best mark in school history. Last season, she had a seven-block game that is tied for third on that same individual game list.
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Upe There It Is
• Upe Atosu has led the team in scoring nine times. She had a streak of 13 straight double-digit scoring games until the season finale in which she scored just six points. Eight of her 10 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, rebounds, assists and free throws.
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Assist Legend in the Making
• In the first game of the MW Tournament, McKenna Hofschild collected eight assists to grab CSU's single-season record of 187. 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. The No. 5 spot in the MW record book is 232.
• 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, she has two more years of eligibility left and is already inside CSU's career assist top 10 list. Last season, the MW Newcomer of the Year had 114 in 21 games played. The junior has another season of eligibility. She had 31 assists at Seton Hall as a freshmen, but that does not count towards CSU's records.
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Protecting the Rock Better than ALL
• CSU continues to lead the NCAA in turnovers per game (9.6) and is fifth in assist to turnover ratio (1.49). 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 19 of 31 games. Also, CSU has 15 games with single-digit turnovers with eight coming in conference play and two in the MW Tournament.
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Murphy's Milestones
•  In the MW Tournament Championship, Karly Murphy tied the CSU single-season rebound record at 278.
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• Karly Murphy is third in the MW in boards per game (8.9) and second in total rebounds (268). She is on pace (IF there is only 1 more game) to have 276 rebounds. CSU's record for a season starts is 278. At Air Force, she grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds.
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• Karly Murphy eclipsed the 1,000-point career mark in the regular season finale. 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 358 points this season is a career best.
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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 350 for 452 (77.4%) from the charity strike thus far, ranking 17th in NCAA. McKenna Hofschild and Upe Atosu are 238-of-299 for 79.5%. That means the rest are 112-of-153 for 73.2%.
• The Rams have seven games under .700 from the line and seven 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.
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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. This season marked Williams' sixth 20-win season, breaking out a tie with Collen for the most in CSU history.
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WNIT Series History: Colorado State
Record: 8-7
Last WNIT Tourney App: 2018; CSUÂ 67, Western Ill. 64 in the 1R; CSU 49, South Dakota 74 in the 2R
More on the matchup on pg. 8 of the Game Notes
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How to Follow Along
Attached: Game Notes.
Live Stats: https://csura.ms/35WyzDv
Live Stream: https://csura.ms/3ibyGNF
Radio: Power 102.9 | https://csura.ms/Listen
Audio Stream: Varsity Network | https://csura.ms/VarsityNetwork
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For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball
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This season's invite to the WNIT marks CSU's seventh time in program history and the fifth time under head coach Ryun Williams. The last WNIT appearance came in 2018 when CSU defeated Western Illinois at home and then lost at South Dakota. Williams also brought CSU teams to the WNIT in 2014, 2015 and 2017. The Rams have now achieved at least 20 wins six times under Williams' tenure, which breaks Williams out of a tie with Collen for the most 20+ win seasons in CSU history.
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"There are a lot of good teams in this tournament that all have a little bit of a chip of their shoulders – us being one of them" head coach Ryun Williams said. "We put together three of our best games of the season in the conference tournament but fell just short of winning it all and going on to the NCAA Tournament. Our mission going into the WNIT is to continue that success that we captured here late in the season and test ourselves against some other great teams in a postseason tournament atmosphere."
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Portland (19-10, 8-7 WCC) finished fourth in the West Coast Conference standings and then lost to No. 20 BYU in the semifinals of the conference tournament. This is just the third time in program history and the first time since the 2008-09 season that the Pilots have been invited to play in the WNIT. The Pilots are led by Alex Fowler who was named to the All-WCC First Team for the third year in a row. Fowler was fourth in the conference in points per game at 17.4 and rebounds at 7.8, while sporting the conference's best field-goal percentage at 54.1%. Lucy Cochrane earned All-WCC honorable mention after breaking the school record for blocks in a season at 110. She currently leads the nation in blocks per game at 4.1. The Pilots will be without Haylee Andrews, a second team recipient, after suffering a season-ending injury.
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If CSU defeats the Pilots, the Rams will advance to play the winner of Oregon State and Long Beach State in the second round of the 64-team tournament.
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RAMS NOTEBOOK
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Postseason Awards
•  Upe Atosu was named MW Newcomer of the Year, while also picking up All-MW honorable mention honors. McKenna Hofschild earned All-MW for the second straight season.The Preseason Mountain West awards pinned the Rams to finish fourth in the 11-team conference.
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Team Balance
•  Colorado State is the only team in the Mountain West that rank in the top five for scoring offense (69.2 ppg) and scoring defense (62.7 ppg). The Rams occupy the fourth spot in both categories. The Rams lead the conference in field-goal percentage defense, allowing a 37.3% shooting clip to its opponents.
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Missed the Mech Blocks
•  Sydney Mech, a six-foot-2 forward, has missed 11 games this season due to injury. However in her 21 games played, she has a team-best 38 blocks for an average of 1.8 a game and has at least one block in 17 games. The 38 blocks is tied for eighth all-time in a season at CSU. Four blocks put her in fifth place all-time.
• Against Oral Roberts (11/15), she had eight for the second-most in CSU history as a part of the team's total of 11, which tied for the fourth-best mark in school history. Last season, she had a seven-block game that is tied for third on that same individual game list.
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Upe There It Is
• Upe Atosu has led the team in scoring nine times. She had a streak of 13 straight double-digit scoring games until the season finale in which she scored just six points. Eight of her 10 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, rebounds, assists and free throws.
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Assist Legend in the Making
• In the first game of the MW Tournament, McKenna Hofschild collected eight assists to grab CSU's single-season record of 187. 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. The No. 5 spot in the MW record book is 232.
• 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, she has two more years of eligibility left and is already inside CSU's career assist top 10 list. Last season, the MW Newcomer of the Year had 114 in 21 games played. The junior has another season of eligibility. She had 31 assists at Seton Hall as a freshmen, but that does not count towards CSU's records.
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Protecting the Rock Better than ALL
• CSU continues to lead the NCAA in turnovers per game (9.6) and is fifth in assist to turnover ratio (1.49). 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 19 of 31 games. Also, CSU has 15 games with single-digit turnovers with eight coming in conference play and two in the MW Tournament.
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Murphy's Milestones
•  In the MW Tournament Championship, Karly Murphy tied the CSU single-season rebound record at 278.
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• Karly Murphy is third in the MW in boards per game (8.9) and second in total rebounds (268). She is on pace (IF there is only 1 more game) to have 276 rebounds. CSU's record for a season starts is 278. At Air Force, she grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds.
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• Karly Murphy eclipsed the 1,000-point career mark in the regular season finale. 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 358 points this season is a career best.
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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 350 for 452 (77.4%) from the charity strike thus far, ranking 17th in NCAA. McKenna Hofschild and Upe Atosu are 238-of-299 for 79.5%. That means the rest are 112-of-153 for 73.2%.
• The Rams have seven games under .700 from the line and seven 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.
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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. This season marked Williams' sixth 20-win season, breaking out a tie with Collen for the most in CSU history.
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WNIT Series History: Colorado State
Record: 8-7
Last WNIT Tourney App: 2018; CSUÂ 67, Western Ill. 64 in the 1R; CSU 49, South Dakota 74 in the 2R
More on the matchup on pg. 8 of the Game Notes
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How to Follow Along
Attached: Game Notes.
Live Stats: https://csura.ms/35WyzDv
Live Stream: https://csura.ms/3ibyGNF
Radio: Power 102.9 | https://csura.ms/Listen
Audio Stream: Varsity Network | https://csura.ms/VarsityNetwork
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For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball
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Players Mentioned
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