LAS VEGAS — Colorado State’s women might consider scrapping the Mountain West Conference regular season and reporting straight to the MWC Tournament.
For the second consecutive year, the eighth-seeded Rams threatened to turn the bracket upside down, upsetting No. 5 seed Wyoming 64-58. A year ago as the No. 9 seed without a conference win, CSU knocked off UNLV in the play-in game and then stunned unbeaten champ Utah before losing in the semifinals.
CSU, 10-20, will play No. 4 seed New Mexico (21-9) at 5:30 p.m. The game will be televised on The Mtn. The winner of Tuesday’s BYU-UNLV game will play No. 3 seed TCU in the second game. Top seeds Utah and San Diego State have byes into Friday’s semifinals in a change from last year’s format.
Wyoming, with lone starter Rebecca Vanderjagt back from last year’s NCAA team, goes home with a 16-14 record.
The only disappointment for CSU was starting forward Britney Minor suffered a broken nose with 52 seconds left.
The Rams won despite connecting on just one of their first 10 shots of the second half.
CSU 6-0 center Amaka Uzomah came off the bench to lead the charge inside with nine points and seven rebounds in the first half. CSU had nine players score before intermission.
Slow-starting Wyoming hit just 28.6 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes. The Rams pulled in front by 20 points on Britney Minor’s jumper with 2:10 remaining in the first half.
The Cowgirls answered with six straight points before halftime, and the first five points in the second half. Kristen Scheffler drained Wyoming’s first trey of the game with 16:47 left to close the gap to 38-29.
CSU didn’t score for nearly four minutes into the second half when Bonnie Barbee restore the Rams into a double digit lead.
NEW MEXICO 84, AIR FORCE 41: The Falcons, winless in the MWC regular season, scored the first five points of the game but it was all New Mexico from the 17:23 mark of the first half.
Amy Beggin led three Lobos in double figures with 18 points. AFA sophomore Liz Dunworth was the lone Falcons in double figures with 12 points. AFA finished with a 4-26 record.
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
