2022 Mountain West Women’s Basketball Championship: Game Preview, How To Watch

UNLV and Colorado State battle for the conference tournament crown and a spot in the big dance Here’s how to watch and what to watch for.

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2022 Mountain West Women’s Basketball Championship: Game Preview, How To Watch

UNLV and Colorado State battle for the conference tournament crown and a spot in the big dance. Here’s how to watch and what to watch for.

Contact/Follow @MattK_FS & @MWCwire

Who will come out on top?

2022 MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP: #1 UNLV Rebels (25-6, 15-3 Mountain West) vs. #6 Colorado State Rams (21-10, 9-9 Mountain West)

WHEN: Wednesday, March 9 — 7:00 PM PT/8:00 PM MT

WHERE: Thomas & Mack Center; Las Vegas, NV

TV: CBS Sports Network

STREAMING: Fans can sign up to receive a free one-week trial of Fubo, which includes CBSSN, by following this link.

WEBSITES: UNLVRebels.com, the official UNLV athletics website | CSURams.com, the official Colorado State athletics website

GAME NOTES (PDF): UNLV | Colorado State

The Mountain West men’s basketball tournament is set to begin in Las Vegas bright and early today, but the nightcap at Thomas & Mack belongs to the conference’s women.

UNLV’s Lady Rebels, led by head coach Lindy La Rocque and conference player of the year Desi-Rae Young, will look to finish off its tournament run against Upe Atosu, McKenna Hofschild and the upstart Colorado State Rams on Wednesday night. The Rebels, tabbed to finish third in the conference’s preseason poll, won their first regular season title since 2018 but have never won the Mountain West tournament. After defeating Utah State and then outlasting Air Force in a defensive battle, a victory on Wednesday night would secure the program’s first NCAA tournament bid since 2002.

Colorado State, meanwhile, finished sixth in the regular season after being predicted to finish fourth in the preseason. They’ve come to life in Las Vegas, however, routing San Jose State, bottling up rival Wyoming, and shocking two-seed New Mexico to reach the tournament championship game for the first time since 2016. That year also marked the program’s last appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Players to Watch

For UNLV, it all starts with Desi-Rae Young, the 6-foot-1 sophomore who was a force throughout conference play to the tune of 14.4 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. In the tournament so far, she had 12 points and eight rebounds in the win over Utah State and then had a double-double against Air Force with 16 points and 12 boards.

Junior Essence Booker has been just as critical in the tournament, however, by averaging 13.5 points in UNLV’s pair of wins. Sixth person of the year Nneka Obiazor has been key off the bench, as well, leading the way with a team-high 20 points vs. Utah State and contributing 10 more with seven rebounds against the Falcons.

For Colorado State, Upe Atosu and McKenna Hofschild have been a powerful dup in this tournament. Atosu has averaged 18 points in the Rams’ three victories while Hofschild has put up 16.7 points and 5.7 assists per game to date.

They’ve had plenty of help in getting this far, however, notably from Karli Murphy. She’s averaged 12.7 points and eight rebounds in the tournament, including 20 in the win over New Mexico in the semifinals.

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