COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 12, 2022) – The Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team was picked to finish fourth in the Preseason Mountain West Poll announced by the league Wednesday, as voted on by the league's head coaches and select media members.
The Cowgirls, who were tabbed to finish fifth in each of the previous two seasons, received a total of 207 points in this year's poll. Defending Mountain West regular season and tournament champion, UNLV was tabbed as the preseason favorite after the Lady Rebels received 26 first-place votes. New Mexico came in at No. 2 in the poll, while Colorado State is third.
Wyoming returns a trio of starters to the 2022-23 squad, which will be the first season under new Head Coach, Heather Ezell. 2021-22 Mountain West Freshman of the Year Allyson Fertig returns, as does a pair of "super seniors" for the Cowgirls in Tommi Olson and Quinn Weidemann. Weidemann, who has been selected to the league's All-Defense Team, each of the previous two seasons, is UW's returning leading-scorer after averaging 11 points per game last season. Weidemann, who shot nearly 42-percent from 3-point range in 2021-22, enters the year seventh in program history with 198 made 3-pointers while her career 3-point percentage of 41-percent ranks fourth all-time. Weidemann's 1,113 career points ranks 21st all-time at UW.
Fertig averaged 10.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game during her freshman campaign. Fertig's 9.5 rebounds per game during league play last season ranked third-best in the Mountain West. Fertig, who closed last season with three consecutive double-doubles, recorded 10 double-doubles in 2021-22 and had 17 games in which she scored in double-figures and had 14 double-digit rebounding efforts. Olson, meanwhile, finished last season 10th in the nation with a 2.65 assist-to-turnover ratio as she led the team with 98 assists (3.3 per game). Olson is 14th all-time with 281 career assists at UW while her 147 steals are 12th in program history.
Wyoming returns seven key contributors to its bench in 2022-23. Tess Barnes, Lexi Bull, Grace Ellis, Emily Mellema, Paula Salazar, Marta Savic and Ola Ustowska all come back for this season. The Cowgirls also welcome in a trio of newcomers in transfers Malene Pedersen (Kansas State) and Bailey Wilborn (Maine), as well as incoming freshman Grace Moyers, who enrolled at UW in the second semester of the 2021-22 academic year.
2022-23 Mountain West Predicted Order of Finish
1. UNLV (26) 297 pts.
2. New Mexico (2) 264
3. Colorado State 232
4. Wyoming 207
5. San Diego State 200
6. Nevada 142
7. Boise State 140
8. Air Force 125
9. Fresno State 113
10. San Jose State 67
11. Utah State 61
Preseason All-Mountain West Team
McKenna Hofschild, Colorado State
Shaiquel McGruder, New Mexico
Sophia Ramos, San Diego State
Essence Booker, UNLV
Desi-Rae Young, UNLV
Preseason Player of the Year
Desi-Rae Young, UNLV
Preseason Newcomer of the Year
Amaya Brown, New Mexico
Preseason Freshman of the Year
Hannah Robbins, New Mexico
-WYO-
