CSU Womens Hoops Team Chasing History on Saturday

The gold standard for the Colorado State Women’s Basketball Team is the 1998-99 team.  They were led by Becky Hammon, the greatest basketball player to ever don the Green and Gold.  They set numerous records over the course of the season on their way to a Sweet Sixteen NCAA appearance and a 33-3 record.

One of the records that team established was 19 consecutive wins which they accomplished at the tail end of the Out of Conference portion of the schedule and throughout the WAC regular season and tournament.

The streak began with an 80-70 win in Moby over the University of Arizona on 12/27/98.  They ran the table in WAC regular season play, going 14-0.  They won the first two rounds of the WAC Tournament but then lost to SMU, a team they had defeated twice in the regular season,  in the tourney final on 3/6/99.  

19 consecutive wins and 75 days between losses!

Fast forward to 2015-16.

There isn’t a Becky Hammon on this year’s team.  

But there are a lot of good players, and I mean a lot of good players on what is the deepest womens’ team to ever grace Moby.  They have 5 very good starters who play as one.  They have bench players who would be starters at any other MWC programs.  And they have a deep coaching staff as well with plenty of head coaching experience throughout.

On any given night, one of six players might be the leading scorer. One of five players might be the leading rebounder.  You get my point.  It’s team before individual play.  And oh how they defend as a team as well!

After opening the season with four wins at Moby, including one over a very good BYU team, they traveled to Philadelphia to take on Penn in the Palestra.  They lost 49-48 after leading most of the game.

That was on 11/24/15.

Since then they have reeled off 18 straight wins.  Most have been blowouts but several have been nail biters including a 64-63 win over Colorado at Moby and an 80-78 win at San Jose State just a couple of weeks ago.

Since that win over San Jose State they have been playing their best basketball.  A pair of big home wins over arch rival Wyoming and San Diego State and a pair of huge road wins over Nevada (64-37) and Boise State (83-51).

UNLV comes a calling on Saturday at Moby.  The Rams won in Vegas 64-56 earlier in the season when the Lady Rebels (shouldn’t they be known as the Scarlet O’Hara’s) were playing their first game without injured big Allie Rohde.  They are big and strong and they rebound like crazy.  

They will offer up a very serious test in the Rams’ quest for 19 in a row.

The stakes are large.  

A chance to move their record to 12-0 and remain two games ahead of their nearest rival Fresno State in the MWC standings.  That means staying on track to win their third consecutive regular season title.  And a chance for an undefeated regular season, something that hasn’t been done since …you guessed it… 1998-99.

The fact that they are already being mentioned in the same breath as that 1998-99 team is an accomplishment in and of itself.

The Pink Out Game on Saturday against UNLV is one more step, one more hurdle, one more step toward a legacy.

The season has already been full of magic.

I can’t wait to see what’s in store tomorrow.