Cowgirls tabbed fifth in preseason Mountain West poll

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., -- The defending Mountain West Tournament Champion-Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team was selected to finish fifth in the Preseason Mountain West Poll, as voted on by the league’s head coaches and selected media.

It marks the second-straight season UW was picked fifth in the preseason poll.

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The Cowgirls, who tallied a total of 190 points, finished behind Colorado State, who received 207 points and a first-place vote in the poll. Fresno State was tabbed as the preseason favorite after it garnered a total of 269 points and 13 first-place votes.

Defending regular season champion New Mexico was picked No. 2, with 251 points and seven first-place nods. UNLV received three first-place votes and was picked third with 232 points.

UW returns three starters from last season’s squad in Tommi Olson, Alba Sanchez Ramos and Quinn Weidemann. Weidemann was the Mountain West Tournament MVP last season, while Olson was tabbed to the All-Tournament Team a season ago. The Cowgirls also return leading-scorer McKinley Bradshaw, who averaged 11.7 points per game in 2020-21, while mostly appearing off the bench.

Wyoming also returns six student-athletes that appeared in games last season as Lexi Bull, Grace Ellis, Landri Hudson, Paula Salazar, Marta Savic and Ola Ustowska all return. UW also welcomes a trio of newcomers in Tess Barnes (Gisborne, Australia), Allyson Fertig (Glendo, Wyo.) and Emily Mellema (Lynden, Wash.).

The Cowgirls open the season with a pair of exhibitions before regular-season play begins. UW hosts Colorado Christian (October 29) and Colorado-Colorado Springs (November 5) before officially opening the season with its first regular-season game Nov. 9 at 11 a.m., against CSU Pueblo.

2021-22 Mountain West Predicted Order of Finish

Rank      Team (1^st place votes)                   Points
1.            Fresno State (13)                              269
2.            New Mexico (7)                                251
3.            UNLV (3)                                              232
4.            Colorado State (1)                            207
5.            Wyoming                                            190
6.            Boise State                                         166
7.            San Diego State (2)                          135
8.            Nevada                                                123
9.            San Jose State (1)                             105
10.          Air Force                                              62
11.          Utah State                                           42

2021-22 Preseason All-Mountain West Team

Pos.       Name                                    Yr.                          Team
G             McKenna Hofschild         Jr.                           Colorado State
G             Haley Cavinder                  Jr.                           Fresno State
G             Hanna Cavinder                Jr.                           Fresno State
G/F        Antonia Anderson           Sr.                           New Mexico
C             Desi-Rae Young                 So.                          UNLV

Preseason Player of the Year
Haley Cavinder, Jr., Guard, Fresno State

Preseason Freshman of the Year
Asia Avinger, Fr., Guard, San Diego State

Preseason Newcomer of the Year
Kylie Jimenez, Sr., Guard, Nevada

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