LARAMIE, Wyo. (November 1, 2018) – In the annual preseason poll released by the Mountain West on Thursday, the Wyoming Cowgirls are picked to finish fourth in the conference. The voting panel consists of the league's 11 head coaches and a select group of media covering the Mountain West's women's basketball teams. Last season, the Cowgirls were picked second in the preseason poll and finished third in the standings at the end of the year.

Defending MW champion Boise State was selected to finish first in the league, as the Broncos picked up 19 first-place votes and 229 points. UNLV received four first-place votes and 208 points to place second, while Fresno State was picked third with 175 points. The Cowgirls earned 158 points for their fourth-place prediction. Following Wyoming, New Mexico (150 points) and Colorado State (128 points) were picked to place fifth and sixth, respectively. Nevada was picked seventh with 115 points, while Utah State garnered 86 points to place eighth. Rounding out  the preseason poll, San Diego State was picked ninth with 64 points, Air Force ended up 10^th with 57 points, and San José State was picked 11^th with 27 points.

The pre-season all-Mountain West team is comprised of Boise State's Riley Lupfer and Marta Hermida, with Lupfer also collecting preseason Player of the Year honors, Fresno State's Candice White, New Mexico's Jaisa Nunn and UNLV's Katie Powell. The preseason Freshman of the Year is Boise State's Jade Loville, while Colorado State's Mollie Mounsey was named the preseason Newcomer of the Year.

Wyoming returns three starters and nine letterwinners from last year's team that put up a 22-11 record while going 13-5 in Mountain West play. The 13 conference wins ties a school record, while the Cowgirls put up back-to-back 20+ win seasons for the fifth time under head coach Joe Legerski. Junior Taylor Rusk is the top returning scorer, as she averaged 10.1 points per game last season. Senior Marta Gomez scored 8.5 points per game off the bench, and was named the Mountain West's Sixth Player of the Year for the second season in a row. Senior Bailee Cotton led the way defensively for the Cowgirls, bringing down 6.2 rebounds per game and collecting 1.2 steals per game. For her efforts, she was named to the Mountain West's All-Defensive team. Senior Clara Tapia led the Mountain West with a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio and directed the Cowgirl offense by averaging 4.3 assists per game.
 
The Cowgirls begin the 2018-19 season this Friday, Nov. 2, when they host Western Colorado in an exhibition game starting at 6:30 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium.
 
2018-19 MW PRESEASON PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
Rank/School (First-Place Votes)     Points   
1. Boise State (19)                           229 
2. UNLV (4)                                      208 
3. Fresno State                                175 
4. Wyoming                                      158 
5. New Mexico                                 150 
6. Colorado State                             128 
7. Nevada                                         115 
8. Utah State                                     86 
9. San Diego State                            64 
10. Air Force                                      57 
11. San Jose State                            27 
 
2018-19 MW PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Riley Lupfer, Jr., G, Boise State 
Marta Hermida, Sr., G, Boise State
Candice White, Sr., G, Fresno State
Jaisa Nunn, Sr., C, New Mexico 
Katie Powell, Sr., F/C, UNLV
 
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Riley Lupfer, Jr., G, Boise State
 
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Jade Loville, G, Boise State
 
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Mollie Mounsey, Jr., G, Colorado State