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The Colorado State women’s basketball team is set to return to the postseason for the fifth consecutive season, as the Rams have received an at-large bid to the 2018 Postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). The organization announced its bracket on Monday night.
Colorado State (20-11) will host the Western Illinois Leathernecks (22-9) in the opening round of the tournament at Moby Arena on Thursday. Tip time will be announced on Tuesday. Ticket information for the Rams’ upcoming game can be found at CSURams.com/tickets or may be obtained through a call to 800-491-RAMS beginning at 8 a.m. MT on Tuesday.
This marks the fourth WNIT appearance for Colorado State (20-11) in the past five years under head coach Ryun Williams (2013-14, 2014-15, 2016-17). CSU had only made as many consecutive postseason appearances once in program history, with that streak occurring over 10 seasons ago (1998-04). CSU is one of four Mountain West teams in the field, along with UNLV, Wyoming and New Mexico. The Lady Rebels finished tied for first, while the Cowgirls placed third and the Lobos were sixth in the league.
The WNIT will feature 37 teams with 20 wins or more this season. Colorado State won 20 games for the fifth consecutive season under Williams, a streak that has been matched by only one other CSU coach (Tom Collen – 1997-02) and exceeded by one streak in program history (Greg Williams, Tom Collen, Chris Denker – 1995-03).
Leading the Rams into postseason play is All-Mountain West guard Hannah Tvrdy, who is averaging team highs in points per game (11.9) and rebounds per game (6.2). Tvrdy, who was also named Mountain West All-Defensive, has scored in double-digit points in 11 of her last 12 games. Rounding out conference honorees was guard Grace Colaivalu, who was a Mountain West All-Freshman selection.