• New Mexico junior guard Caroline Durbin, who scored a game-high 23 points in leading the Lobos to their first MW road win of the season at Wyoming on Saturday, has scored in double figures in 21 out of 23 contests this season, including recording six 20-point games. The league leader in three-point field goal percentage in MW games only (.556), Durbin also ranks third in scoring (17.4 ppg) and field-goal percentage (.508).

• San Diego State junior guard Chelsea Hopkins, who along with Colorado State's Kim Mestdagh earned MW co-Player of the Week honors, logged her third double-double of the season (12 points, 12 assists) in Saturday's win over UNLV. Hopkins' 12 assists matched her career high and are three more than any other Mountain West player in a league contest this season. Hopkins ranks 10th nationally in assists (6.4/g) and is 18th in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1).

• Wyoming junior forward Chaundra Sewell has done it all for the Cowgirls this season. Sewell, the squad's lone returning starter, has either led or tied for team-high honors in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals in six games this season. She has also led or tied for team-high honors in blocks on 10 occasions.

• Air Force junior guard Alicia Leipprandt scored a game-high 22 points against Boise State on Saturday, marking her highest scoring output of the league season. Leipprandt, who shot 8-of-11 from the field, had her best offensive performance since scoring 32 points against South Florida on Dec. 3. It was the fourth 20-plus point game of the season for Leipprandt, who had posted only two 20-plus outings in her previous two seasons.

• One of the key reasons behind UNLV's current three-game losing streak has been the health of senior forward Lenita Sanford. Prior to suffering a knee injury in mid-January, Sanford was averaging 11.6 points and 7.5 rebounds and had scored in double figures in five straight games. Since returning in a limited capacity against Colorado State on Feb. 1, she has averaged 5.6 points and 3.0 rebounds.

• TCU, which can break a three-way tie for third place when it hosts UNLV, is 19-5 in the final month of the season over the past three years. Since joining the league in 2005, the Horned Frogs, who advanced to their first MW Tournament title game last season, are 34-12 in the month of February.

• The Boise State tandem of senior guard Kati Isham (14.8 ppg) and junior forward Lauren Lenhardt (14.6 ppg) ranks fourth and fifth, respectively, in scoring in the MW. Isham and Lenhardt, who has four 20-plus point games.

Join me live from courtside as I'll be blogging throughout tournament play at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Plus, you can check out both the live audio stream of the game and track the stats at TheMWC.com/2011.

BYU (22-7, 14-1) clinched a share of the regular-season league title in Saturday's 56-52 win over San Diego State, but not without being pushed to the brink.

The Cougars, who trailed 34-24 at the half, found themselves staring at a 44-28 deficit after Aztecs guard Coco Davis hit the second of two free throws with 1:52 gone in the second half.

BYU turned up the defensive pressure, however, ultimately scoring 10 points off 13 second-half turnovers by SDSU. The Cougars, whose only advantage in the game had come at 2-0 at the 19:25 mark of the first half, completed the comeback when Haley Hall hit a three-pointer with 1:32 left to give the hosts a 54-52 lead.

"This team really believes in itself," said coach Jeff Judkins. "When things aren't going their way, they really believe they can stick together and inch their way back. Every timeout we had, we just kept encouraging them, reminding them that we weren't going to get it all back with one shot.

"It's been a long time since we'd found ourselves in that kind of position, but our players believed they could win the game. They just kept working and refused to get discouraged. Earlier in the year, we might have let that kind of situation bother us, but they just inched their way back. I was really proud of them."

The Cougars wrapped up sole possession of the 2011 Mountain West Conference regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the Conoco MWC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament next week in Las Vegas with a 65-49 win over New Mexico on Tuesday night.

Up and Coming

When Utah (6-8, 13-15) stages its senior night on Wednesday prior to tipoff against Colorado State, the list of honorees won't be lengthy.

Of the 14 players currently on the roster, forward Michelle Harrison and guard Hennasea Tokumura are the lone seniors, leaving coach Anthony Levrets ample talent to work with in 2011-12. Eleven players are either sophomores or freshmen.

"We've had a lot of young kids who have had to play," said Levrets, whose roster next season will also be bolstered by the return of 6-foot-3 sophomore forward Taryn Wicijowski, the 2009-10 MWC Freshman of the Year who was lost for the season after suffering a knee injury in late November. "We're not where we want to be in terms of wins, but I think it bodes very well for the future. This is a talented young group. They've been very resilient. Every time I think they've finally been hit by that one crushing blow, because they're so young, they come to practice the next day as eager to learn as they were the first day of practice. That has really made this season a lot of fun."

Preparing for the Unknown

With three teams --- Colorado State, Utah and San Diego State --- tied for fourth place heading into action Wednesday night, Aztecs coach Beth Burns is currently facing the unknown heading into next week's MWC Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Defending tournament champion SDSU (12-14, 6-8) hosts third-place Wyoming on Wednesday before closing out the regular season at Colorado State on Saturday. CSU visits Utah on Wednesday.

"I've never gone into a tournament week having no earthly idea how to practice relative to who you might potentially play," said Burns, whose team held a 16-point lead at first-place BYU on Saturday before falling 56-52. "Usually, when you say anything can happen, it's a bit of an exaggeration, but when you say anything can happen in this instance, you truly feel that way.

"The only thing I can say with any certainty is that we'll be playing either Colorado State, Utah, New Mexico, Air Force or UNLV. The positive you can take from that is that with the exception of our home game against BYU, we've been in every game. That said, I still think anybody can beat anybody in this league on any given night. If we can put a complete game together for 40 minutes and sustain it, I think we've got as good of a chance as anybody else."

Curtain Call

When Air Force (8-19, 3-11) hosts New Mexico on Saturday in the regular-season finale for both teams, the Falcons will honor a player who can arguably lay claim to being the best in the program's history.

Guard Raimee Beck, the team's lone senior, will be playing her final game at Clune Arena. She will exit as the program's all-time leader during the Division I era in scoring average, free-throw percentage, steals, field goals attempted, three-point field goals made, three-point field goals attempted and points in a season. Saturday's game will also mark her 116th career start. The previous record was 107, set by 2007 graduate Alicia Steele.

Prior to the Falcons ending a 40-game conference losing streak against San Diego State on Jan. 19, Beck had been the team's only player to have ever won a game against an MWC opponent.

"She's meant so much to the program, both on and off the court," said first-year coach Andrea Williams. "It's been great having her as a senior to serve as the connection between the team and a new staff. Even though we brought in a new style and a new tempo, it was easy for her to make the transition. We just want to be able to send her out with some great wins and some great memories for a kid that has endured these last four years. I've thoroughly enjoyed the one year I've been with her."

A Freshman No More

Colorado State faces its most crucial two-game stretch of the season this week when it visits Utah on Wednesday before hosting San Diego State in the regular-season finale on Saturday. The Rams (13-14, 6-8), who beat both teams during the first round of league play, are currently tied for fourth place with the Utes and Aztecs.

Yet if CSU holds a trump card, it may be 6-foot-2 freshman forward Sam Martin, who after being limited by a knee injury during her senior year at Chaparral High in Parker, Colo., last year, is currently ranked in the top 15 in seven statistical categories in the MWC.

After turning in her best performance against a conference opponent this season by scoring 21 points in Saturday's 70-49 win over Air Force, Martin ranks as the second-leading scorer (12.6 ppg) among MWC freshmen. Overall, she ranks 11th in the league in rebounds (6.4 rpg), second in field-goal percentage (56.6), fifth in free-throw percentage and sixth in blocked shots (1.3). She has shot 50 percent or better in 10 of 12 games against conference opponents.

"She's far exceeded what I thought she would do, not that I didn't think she was a very capable player, but you're anxious to see what any player will do coming back from a knee injury," said coach Kristen Holt. "She's had a lot of added pressure, especially from the standpoint that there were really no other post players on our team during the majority of conference play. She's had to play a lot of minutes and she's had to learn on the run. Her ceiling is very high. I think she already has the best post presence of any player on our team."

Long Range Bombers

In TCU's 84-71 win at New Mexico (10-17, 4-11) on Saturday, the teams tied a MWC record by combining for 26 three-point baskets.

The Frogs (20-9, 12-3) were 12-of-21 beyond the arc (57.1 percent), the ninth-best three-point shooting performance in school history. Guards Emily Carter and Helena Sverrisdottir combined to go 8-for-13 from three-point range, helping to counter a New Mexico performance highlighted by five three-pointers apiece from Lauren Taylor and Megan Toben. The Lobos connected on a season-high 14 three-pointers on 37 attempts.

The difference came In the second half, however, when TCU shot an overall percentage of 66.7 percent.

"In all the games I've ever been a part of at The Pit, that second half was the best shooting performance I've ever seen," said New Mexico coach Don Flanagan, who is in his 16th season. "They shot the lights out, and not just their premiere players, but kids who came in and played 10-12 minutes.

"We just couldn't stop them, but I wasn't unhappy with the way we played except for late in the game. We competed. But it's tough to win when a team shoots 67 percent."

The Final Chapter

Wyoming (21-6, 11-3), which has thrived this season under the senior leadership of guards Aubrey Vandiver and Randi Richardson and forwards Hillary Carlson and Jade Kennedy, will bid farewell to all four when the Cowgirls host BYU in their final regular-season home game on Saturday.

Together as a complete group the past two seasons, the quartet has helped lead Wyoming to a mark of 109-48, the 2007 WNIT championship, an NCAA appearance in 2008 and a berth in the 2010 WNIT Tournament. Vandiver, a fifth-year player for the Cowgirls, sat out the 2008-09 season with an illness and was an integral part of the 2007 WNIT championship team as a freshman. Richardson sat out the 2007-08 season after transferring to Wyoming from the University of San Francisco.

"The time goes by very quickly," said coach Joe Legerski. "I can remember when Aubrey and Hillary and Jade came in as freshmen. It seems like you have so much time on your side, and then all of the sudden it's Senior Day.

"What this group has accomplished, with the number of wins, the number of postseason appearances, they're definitely going to go down as being among the best in the history of the University of Wyoming."

Nothing Like Home Cookin'

While UNLV (10-19, 3-12) has advanced past the second round only once under the current format of the MWC Tournament, coach Kathy Olivier is hoping for a reversal of fortune when the event kicks off for the fifth straight year next week at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

The Lady Rebels gained the semifinals in 2009 before falling to runner-up San Diego State.

"The Mountain West Tournament is really electric," said Olivier, a former UNLV All-American who spent 15 seasons as the head coach at UCLA before returning to her alma mater in 2008. "I'm definitely convinced that anyone can win it. BYU is probably the favorite just because they're very deep and shoot the ball extremely well. But (defending tournament champion) San Diego State probably has the two best post players (Paris Johnson and Jessika Bradley) in the league and they're starting to play well as of late. But there's no doubt in my mind this year that anyone could win it."

With 6:47 gone in Saturday's matchup between then-No. 7 BYU and No. 4 San Diego State, Cougars junior forward Noah Hartsock launched a three-point shot from deep in the corner. Amazingly, the ball caromed off the backboard and dropped through the net.

More amazing? Over the next 33:13, BYU would hit 11-of-21 three-point attempts and finish 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) beyond the arc en route to a 70-57 win and a possible No. 1 seed in both the Mountain West Conference and NCAA tournaments.

This against a team that came into the contest with a scoring defense that ranked No. 1 in the MWC and No. 7 nationally.

"We've been on the giving end of that, where we've shot that way," said SDSU coach Steve Fisher, whose team fell to 27-2 overall and 12-2 in league play. "It doesn't happen often, but it happened on a huge stage in a monumental game and (BYU) delivered. They were better than a good team; they were a sensational team."

Falcons Stop Skid

Prior to Saturday's 74-57 win over Colorado State, Air Force (14-13, 5-9) had been mired in a season-long four-game losing streak and had dropped six of its previous eight.

Against the Rams, four Falcon players (led by Michael Lyons' 21 points) scored in double figures and Air Force limited CSU to 32.2 percent shooting, the lowest by an MWC opponent this season.

"I thought we played with a great sense of urgency," said Falcons coach Jeff Reynolds, whose team also snapped a three-game losing streak against CSU. "I think the dynamics of the schedule, with our league being so good, sometimes you can play pretty good basketball and not get a win. It's hard on your team physically and mentally. It was good for us to get a win against a good team and let them see that hard work does pay off."

Air Force senior guard Evan Washington set a school record by making his 107th career start on Saturday.

A Senior's Steady Hand

It's not been the easiest of seasons for New Mexico senior point guard Dairese Gary. Directing traffic on a team comprised of four underclassmen, including two freshmen, the all-conference performer has largely served as a coach on the floor.

In Saturday's 80-70 win at TCU, however, the teacher turned into a terror, scoring a career-high 32 points.

With his team trailing 50-46 in the second half, Gary fueled a 27-8 run in which he scored 14 points. His final point total was the most by Lobos player since J.R. Giddens scored 36 against Wyoming on Feb. 9, 2008. Gary's performance came on the heels of a 26-point outing against UNLV on Wednesday and marked the first time a New Mexico player had posted consecutive 25-point games since Tony Dandridge had 29 in games against Utah and Wyoming in 2009. Gary scored 23 points in the second half against TCU and 20 of the team's final 29 over the last 9:33.

The conference's all-time assists leader, Gary also became the league's all-time leader in career starts when he made his 127th on Saturday.

"Because of Darington (Hobson) leaving early for the NBA last year, he (Gary) has been left by himself with a very young, inexperienced team and he's just been tremendous," said coach Steve Alford. "He's been patient with this team and he's been a very good leader. He's had to score more than what he's probably honestly capable of, because that's really not his role and he probably doesn't relish it, but he's just done everything he can possibly do to help us win games."

Willis Hits His Stride

After battling a lingering knee problem for much of the season, UNLV senior guard Tre'Von Willis appears to have found his groove, stringing together two of his strongest performances of the year in an overtime win at New Mexico and a home victory against Wyoming. Willis torched the nets with 14-of-21 shooting from the field, including an 8-of-11 effort from 3-point range, while averaging 20.0 points over the two contests. He has scored in double figures in six of his last seven games with two 20-point outings during that stretch, including his season-high 25 at UNM.

"I think it's really been about him being healthier," said coach Lon Kruger, whose team sits at 22-7 overall and 10-5 in league play. "The last two weeks have probably been a stretch in which he's felt as good as he has all year. He tweaked his knee a little bit at Colorado State (on Feb. 19) and that set him back a little, but he had a really gritty effort against New Mexico, and he probably felt as healthy for the Wyoming game as he has during conference play. I think that combined with knowing there are just a few games left in his senior year has him very focused right now."

Fighting the Good Fight

With TCU (10-20, 1-14) having lost 12 straight and facing the possibility of entering next week's conference tournament with one league win, it might be easy for the team's players to cash it in and start anew in 2010-11.

According to coach Jim Christian, however, such is not the case.

"When you've gone through the stretch we have, it's easy for players to become disconcerted or not try hard," Christian said. "But we've got good kids and I think we have the right kind of foundation to build a successful program with our younger players and the guys we have returning.

"You win with character, and if we're going to turn this around, it's going to take strong-character people to do it. I think we have the people in place to do that. We have players who just keep fighting through it and I think they're starting to see how they fit into the foundation and they're starting to see the big picture. Nobody likes losing, but these guys aren't about to quit."

Slow the Pace, Increase the Wins

Utah coach Jim Boylen, citing concerns about his team's high turnover count, has opted to slow the pace of his offense. The move would appear to be paying dividends, as the Utes (6-8, 13-15) have won three straight after dropping five in a row.

"I just didn't like how we were playing during that first 10 or 12 seconds of the shot clock," Boylen said. "We were turning the ball over way too much and I didn't like our shots-on-goal. So I said if we're not going to get anything during those first 10-14 seconds, let's find a layup or something wide open. If we don't have numbers, we're going to walk it up to halfcourt. It just really came down to poor shot selection, turnovers and poor decisions. I just felt we were putting too much pressure on our guys to score early in the shot clock."

Numbers Game

With his team having dropped three straight to in falling to 18-10 overall and 8-6 in league play, Colorado State coach Tim Miles knows his team's chances of garnering an NCAA Tournament bid could be slipping away.

But with this year's tournament field expanded to 68 teams and the MWC Tournament looming at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas next week, the Rams, who averaged a conference-best 80.5 points in games against league leader BYU, can't be counted out just yet. At last year's MWC Tournament, the Rams came within a point of knocking off eventual champion San Diego State.

"I like the idea of having 68 teams," Miles said. "The last four teams to get into the tournament probably do have a little hitch in their giddyup, but that's what makes it great. Kids get a chance to fight their way into the tournament and get a chance to prove themselves. I know coaches who get fired for not making the tournament would like to see more teams in, but at the same time you want a competitive tournament."

The Pleasure's Mine

Five games into his tenure as interim head coach at Wyoming, Fred Langley, who has guided the team to two of its three conference wins, is having a difficult time disguising his passion for the job.

"I'm having a blast," said Langley. "It's always been a goal of mine to be a Division I head coach and to help jump-start a program. But I'm just having a blast, and I think the guys are having a good time. Obviously, we'd like to win some more games, but I'm pleased with the effort and with just how well the guys are staying together."