Winning a conference tournament after a title drought takes persistence. Trying to do it again in a new conference takes something else entirely. 

Colorado State women’s basketball enters the 2026-27 season with a Mountain West championship title behind them and a new challenge to face ahead. The Rams have the chance to prove last season was just the beginning, not the peak. 

The question now becomes, “How do you keep building a team once they reach the top?”

After entering last season’s MW tournament as the No. 3 seed, the Rams beat Grand Canyon, UNLV and Air Force to win the title, pushing them into their first NCAA Tournament appearance in a decade. Their season ended with a 65-62 first-round loss to No. 5 Michigan State. 

“The title was awesome,” head coach Ryun Williams said. “It means the world to me because our kids really worked hard for that, and it was obviously a program goal.” 

When most teams win a championship, they try to maintain everything that worked, but that’s not an option for the Rams. 

Madelyn Bragg, Hannah Ronsiek, Marta Leimane and Lexus Bargesser graduated in May, while Brooke Carlson entered the transfer portal and landed at Washington. Those five core players were the team’s bread and butter on the court, and now there’s a need for some serious growth. 

“Those kids were on the floor a lot together,” Williams said. “The course of a game was pretty seamless last year, and we were very good defensively, especially early in the year. We’re not that right now. We’ve got one player in that starting lineup, Kloe Froebe, that’s played extensive minutes, and so we’re going to have to grow that.”

The loss of some of the team’s leading players led to the one thing that helps add more layers of experience to a team: the transfer portal. 

The portal isn’t new territory for Williams. Since the start of his tenure, CSU has won five of the last six Mountain West Newcomer of the Year awards. 

“We needed to replace Bargesser.” Williams said. “That was something that we knew was going to be difficult to do. But the physicality, just the different level of athlete, we feel we did that in Maryn Archer, and then replacing Brooke, I think we did a great job of that with Camryn Runner.”

Runner, a guard from the University of Evansville, averaged 18.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists last season. CSU added two other guards, Archer from Arkansas and Anna Wikstrøm from Duke, a team that reached the Elite Eight in last year’s NCAA tournament. 

The biggest change for CSU comes up front. 

Six-foot-four forward and center Heiður Karlsdóttir, who transferred from Wyoming, is the tallest Ram since the 2018-19 season. The Rams also added center Sophie Sene, who — among centers with at least 35 attempts — led the nation in 3-point percentage at 41.7% during her time at Utah State. 

“The Pac-12 is a little bigger league,” Williams said. “We experienced that when we played Gonzaga (and) when we played Oregon State. Washington State plays with kids that are (6-foot-5) to (6-foot-7), and so we went for some interior height and physicality, and I think we did a nice job of finding that.” 

The Rams may be short on experience, but they make up for it in appetite. 

“They come hungry every day,” Williams said. “It’s easy to get better if that’s the case; we progress nicely. A lot of newness out there, but each day (is) better and better.” 

Froebe and McKenna Murphy are the bridge between the old and the new. Froebe said she sees the same hunger the previous team had. 

“They’re great,” Froebe said. “They all bring something different, and through their character and through just on the court, they push each other, and they all want to win. I mean, they all came here to win. They know that it’s a winning culture here, and so, that was their expectations coming in. I’m just really excited to play with like-minded people like that.” 

To bring the best, you need greatness. You don’t just build greatness from your playing style; you build it by those surrounding the court. 

“I fell in love with the coaching staff and the team — the culture they had here,” Runner said. “That was one of the big things that stood out to me. Because I talked to a lot of coaches, and not all of them had that. They were nice, of course, but this program had something different, and I liked that, and I liked the opportunity that came with it, so I took it.” 

The team’s first appearance on the court came Oct. 28, with the Rams beating Chadron State 109-38 in their first exhibition game. 

“There’s going to be some anxiety,” Williams said. “You could see the intent was right where it needed to be (Oct. 28). You could see that they played with a different level of purpose.” 

There are always places to improve upon, especially if issues are caught early in the season. 

“We played well on offense, confidence and whatnot,” Runner said. “We need to get better at boards. You know, not giving as much of those up, but that’s a team thing, you know, that was addressed. We’ll get better at that.” 

Even teams without much experience playing with each other can be lethal, however. 

“(There are) weapons everywhere,” Runner said. “You can’t just pick on a person, two people. Every single spot on the court at all times is a weapon that other teams have to respect.” 

The expectation this year is simple: build chemistry.

“Everything’s new this season,” Runner said. “If we win, we’re exceeding expectations.” 

With Williams in his 16th year at CSU, he said he’s seen and learned a lot from every group that has passed through. 

“I learned that, you know, you don’t have as much control as you think you do as a coach,” Williams said. “That’s an OK thing.”

He said he is here to stay and that CSU may just be his forever home. 

“My family and I love it here,” Williams said. “We love (CSU), and this place has been very, very good to us. So it just means that this is going to be my last stop.” 

The real test starts now. CSU opens the regular season at home against Lindenwood Nov. 2 before playing at Utah Nov. 6.  This year isn’t going to be easy, but that’s what the team will be betting on. 

“We know that we have that kind of target on our back,” Froebe said. “We need to approach every single game like we’re 0-0. Like, every quarter restarts, and so we need to bring our best to every single game.” 

March demonstrated they can win when it matters, and now the Rams must show they can do it again: this time not only with a new roster, but a new conference.  

They’ve shown persistence, now they get to show their guts.