Atosu Earns Mountain West Newcomer of the Year, Hofschild All-MW

Calendar

Show:/

No Upcoming Events

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Upe Atosu and McKenna Hofschild were named to the All-Mountain West team, while Atosu earned the Newcomer of the Year award, announced Sunday by the conference.

Atosu, a guard from Edo State, Nigeria, transferred to Colorado State after spending her previous two seasons at Butler. The graduate player has proceeded to average 16.7 points and 1.7 assists per game in conference play, helping the Rams grab the No. 6 seed to the MW Tournament. What set her apart was her consistency offensive as she shot 38.5% from the floor including a 36.5% clip from 3-point land and a 76.3% mark from the free-throw line. She spent the second-most time on the court in MW games, averaging 36.2 minutes per game in the 16 starts.

The ceiling of Atosu in the green and gold was apparent three games into the conference season when she dropped a career-best 32 points against San Jose State. She took over the game, going 9-of-15 shooting with a career-high six 3s. Two games later, she started a streak of 13 consecutive games scoring double digits. In all, she accumulated 15 double-digit scoring games during conference play and eclipsed the 20-point mark six times. Scoring is not the everything for Atosu who made an impact defensively. She leads the Rams in steals with 18 and has at least one takeaway in all but three MW games this season. Currently, she is on a six-game streak with at least one steal. One notable theft came at Nevada in the final minute and a half that led to a breakaway layup and momentum flipper en route to CSU's win.

For the second-straight season, the conference newcomer of the year honor has been awarded to a Ram as Hofschild garnered it this time last year after spending her freshman season at Seton Hall. Overall, it is CSU's third such award with the first being Ashley Augspurger in 1999-00. Atosu also was named honorable mention All-MW.

Hofschild, a junior from Prior Lake, Minn., picked up her second All-Mountain West accolade. The 5-foot-5 guard was Colorado State's leading scorer (18.1) – second in the MW – and the top facilitator in the conference with 129 assists – 30 more than the next student-athlete. She notched four assist-point double-doubles, which were the most of that variety in the MW. Similarly, her 3.23 assist-to-turnover ratio in MW games ranks second in the conference. Shooting-wise, Hofschild was 42.2% from the floor and 77.1% from the charity strike, which is an area the Rams take advantage of being 18^th in the country.

In the conference opener against Boise State, Hofshild dropped a career-best 32 points with nine baskets and 13 made free throw. A few weeks later, she tallied 17 assists at Utah State to break CSU's single game assist record. When the Rams traveled to the Spartans in mid-February, Hofschild matched her career mark in points with 32, while also dishing out seven dimes and going a perfect 11-of-11 shooting at the free-throw line. Of the 18 MW games, she reached double digits in scoring 15 times, including eight games over 20. In terms of assists, Hofschild had a dozen games with at least five assists and five with at least 10.

This marked the second year in a row that CSU had two all-conference players as Hofschild and Lore Devos were recognized in the 2020-21 season.

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

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results