Wyoming is still Mountain West Conference's favorite

While preseason favorite Wyoming still seems like the Mountain West Conference women's basketball team to beat, the lineup of contenders has been shaken up after nine weeks of nonleague action going into tonight's conference openers.

No team has made as dramatic nonleague strides as Utah, which took some roster hits with graduation and transfers. But incoming transfers Leilani Mitchell and Katie King have joined regulars Morgan Warburton, Kalee Whipple and Jessica Perry to give Elaine Elliott's Utes a balanced team and tight rotation.

Look at the Mountain West's statistical leaders, and several of the aforementioned names often are found among the top 10 in key categories such as scoring, rebounding and shooting percentage.

TCU and BYU, picked Nos. 2 and 3 in the preseason poll, managed .500 nonleague records, while the Cougars are trying to mesh experienced veterans like Mallary Carling, Lauren Varley and Shawnee Slade into a starting lineup with first-year freshman like Keilani Moeaki inside and either Mindy Nielson or Jazmine Foreman at the point.

Following is a brief rundown of each MWC women's team, listed according to preseason predicted finish:

Wyoming

Current record/streak: 12-1/six wins.

Preseason pick: First — 24 first-place ballots, 203 total points.

Leading scorer: Hanna Zavecz, 14.8 points per game (sixth in MWC).

Leading rebounder: Aubrey Vandiver, 7.2 rebounds per game (sixth in MWC).

Best win: Wyoming needed OT to post a 67-66 victory at No. 25 Wisconsin.

Worst loss: The Cowgirls' 69-55 loss at Colorado is the only blemish to date.

Worth noting: Not only does the back-intact starting lineup consist of four seniors and one junior, but the Cowgirls lost only three letterwinners and a combined per-game average of just 2.1 points and .6 rebounds from last year's WNIT championship team.

TCU

Current record/streak: 7-7/two wins.

Preseason pick: Second — two first-place ballots, 188 total points.

Leading scorer: Adrianne Ross, 15.3 ppg (fourth in MWC).

Leading rebounder: Lorie Butler-Rayford, 7.9 rpg (fourth in MWC).

Best win: After three losses against Top 20 teams, the Frogs whipped No. 20 Oklahoma State 97-63 at home in mid-December.

Worst loss: Before trouncing Texas-Arlington 97-42 last weekend, TCU was 0-4 against instate rivals SMU (66-61), No. 12 Texas A&M (69-58), Rice (82-74) and Houston (73-68).

Worth noting: TCU played the MWC's most ambitious nonconference slate. Besides OSU and A&M, the Frogs also faced — and fell to — No. 5 LSU (73-54) and No. 12 Cal (74-55).<