MW Women's Basketball Weekly Release - March 20

AROUND THE MOUNTAIN WEST

• The Mountain West is celebrating its 25^th season of women’s basketball during the 2023-24 campaign.

• The UNLV Lady Rebels are ranked 20^th in the Associated Press and 19^th in the USA Today UNLV has appeared in either the AP or Coaches poll seven times this season.

• Three Mountain West closed out the NET rankings with three teams in the top 120: UNLV (26), Colorado State (98) and Wyoming (118).

• The Mountain West is one of eight conferences (ACC, .727; Big 12, .822; Big East, .667; Big Ten, .735; Pac-12, .850; SEC, .798; Sun Belt, .614) with a .590 nonconference record or better during the 2023-24 season.

• For the third consecutive season, the UNLV Lady Rebels have won the Mountain West Basketball Championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. UNLV is the first MW women’s team to win both titles three seasons in a row.

• The Lady Rebels are making their 11th NCAA tournament appearance in program history and fourth since joining the MW in 1999.

• UNLV is seeded 10^th in its region, the highest seed the program has earned since 1994, when the Lady Rebels were also a 10 seed.

• Air Force is ranked 20^th in the nation in steals per game (10.8).

• Boise State is ranked second in blocks per game (6.2).

• Colorado State is ranked third in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6) and 11^th in free-throw percentage (78.5).

• Two Mountain West programs lead Division I in fewest turnovers per game. Colorado State leads the nation only committing 9.1 turnovers per game and UNLV is second with only 10.5 per game.

• New Mexico is ranked 14^th in Division I in defensive rebounds per game (29.6).

• UNLV is ranked third in winning percentage (93.8), sixth in scoring margin (21.0), seventh in bench points per game (28.8), eighth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.5), ninth in rebound margin (9.5) and 11th in defensive rebounds (29.9).

• UNLV’s road record (14-1) is the fourth best in the nation and its Division I win-loss record (30-2) ranks third in the country. The Lady Rebels hold a 2-0 record against teams ranked in the top 50 of the NCAA NET and UNLV is one of three programs with two or fewer losses on the season.

• Boise State’s Abby Muse is ranked 10^th in NCAA Division I in blocks per game (2.65) and is tied for sixth in total blocks (90).

• Colorado State’s McKenna Hofschild is ranked third in the nation in total assists (227), second in assists per game (7.3), ninth in points per game (22.1), tied for seventh in total points (684) and second in assists-to-turnover ratio (3.03).

• UNLV’s Kiara Jackson leads the nation in assists-to-turnover ratio (3.43) and Alyssa Durazo-Frescas is ranked seventh in 3-point percentage (44.7).

• Desi-Rae Young is one of four D-I players averaging at least 17.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and a steal per game this season, along with LSU’s Angel Reese, UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards and Boston’s Caitlin Weimar.

• Colorado State’s McKenna Hofschild was named a Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Top Five finalist.

• Hofschild was a Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Top Ten Finalist.

• UNLV’s Desi-Rae Young was named a Top Ten Finalist for the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award.

• UNLV head coach Lindy La Rocque was named a Top Five finalist for the Kathy Delaney-Smith Midseason Mid-Major Coach of the Year award watch list.