Tuesday Shootaround: Rivalrly Gets Tourney Upgrade

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LAS VEGAS – The question was expected, but who stepped into answer it was curious.

Colorado State's women's basketball team had just beaten Boise State for the 20^th win of the season, the 16^th time in program history the Rams have hit the mark, the seventh time in coach Ryun Williams' 11-year tenure.

But to get a 21^st and a shot at the Mountain West Tournament championship at the Thomas & Mack Center on Wednesday night, the Rams have to do a much better job against Wyoming center Alysson Fertig.

The Pokes' post tore up the Rams in Laramie just more than a week ago, scoring 27 points, 15 of them coming in the decisive fourth quarter, including a personal 8-0 run.

On the podium sat McKenna Hofschild and Kendyll Kinzer to address the question, and naturally, the Rams' 5-foot-2 guard – who will have little to do with defending Fertig – went on the record.

"We switched up our game plan a little bit; we're going to double her a little bit quicker than we did in Laramie," Hofschild said, prompting Williams to jump in.

"Don't be giving away the game plan," which elicited laughter from the media. "And she wants to be a coach. That's the No. 1 thing in coaching – you don't give the game plan away the night before the game."

As Williams said, no real damage done. It's not like Wyoming doesn't already know the Rams were slow to help in the paint, a key reason why Fertig made 9-of-16 shots in the game and drew a host of fouls, making 9-of-10 attempts from the line.

Kinzer, who was tasked to Fertig a lot in the last meeting, had already come out and addressed what she needed to do better. Fertig has strength where Kinzer has length, leading the Ram to figure out how to use what she has to her advantage.

"I think personally I have to be better defensively," she said. "Go watch the film and watch how I can use my feet to my advantage and then just getting good looks from the whole entire team; I think our offense can be better. Defensive stops, we're going to get out and run, so hopefully we get more stops than we did last game."

The two teams split games this year, both winning at home.

Charting Success

After Monday's performance, McKenna Hofschild upped the stakes on her career numbers.

With her 10 assists, she surpassed the single-season record of 216 she set a season ago, hitting 219 in the victory over Boise State.

Not only that, with 19 points, she climbed past two teammates on the career scoring list – Ellen Nystrom and Elin Gustavsson, now with 1,464 to rank eighth. She needs 14 against Wyoming to move past Ashley Augspurger into seventh. Her 626 points on the season moved her past Becky Hammon's sophomore total of 618 to rank third in a season – just a day after meeting the CSU legend.

In other areas:
Season
FGs made – 215 (seventh) – needs two for sixth, five to rank fourth
FG attempts: 441 (ninth) – needs two for eighth, 16 for seventh
FTs made: 154 (second) – 35 behind Hammon's record
FTs attempted: 193 (second) – 26 behind Hammon's record

Career
Assists: 549 (second), -- 36 behind Nystrom's record
FTs made: 344 (tied sixth, Katie Cronin) – needs eight for fifth
FTs attempted: 434 (eighth) – needs 10 to move into sixth

What's Happening

UNLV and San Diego State will play in the first semifinal Tuesday (6 p.m.), the No. 21 Rebels advancing with an 84-47 dismantling of Nevada, while the Aztecs clipped New Mexico 69-68, a mild upset in the 4/5 game of the bracket.

Wyoming had little issue with San Jose State, 72-57.

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