Ryder named MW co-Player of the Year; Nystrom garners All-MW honors

Keegan Pope

Colorado State guard Gritt Ryder was named the Mountain West Women’s Basketball Co-Player of the Year along with Fresno State’s Alex Sheedy, the league announced Monday.

Ryder, a senior from Denmark, averaged 10.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.5 rebounds per contest while playing in 17 of the team’s 18 conference games. Ryder also averaged a team-high 33.2 minutes per game and played the entire 40 minutes in two Mountain West games. She is the first player from Colorado State to receive MW Player of the Year since the conference was formed in 1999-2000, and she is the first conference MVP since Rams’ legend Becky Hammon was named WAC Player of the Year in 1999.

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CSU guard Gritt Ryder was named the Mountain West women's basketball player of the week Monday.
CSU guard Gritt Ryder was named the Mountain West Women’s Basketball Co-Player of the Year Monday.

Ryder, along with sophomore guard Ellen Nystrom, was named to the 10-member All-Mountain West team, while Nystrom was tabbed on the All-Defensive team. Tasked with guarding opponent’s biggest scoring threats, the sophomore held five of the league’s top scores to a combined 24-of-100 from the field (.240). She finished the conference slate ranked in the top 10 in four statistical categories, leading the MW in defensive rebounds (6.8).

New Mexico’s Yvonne Sanchez was awarded Coach of the Year for the Lobos impressive run to close the season in second place. Mimi Mungedi of Nevada won the Defensive Player of the Year honor, Fresno State’s Raven Fox earned the Sixth Player of the Year, Utah State’s Funda Nakkasoglu won Freshman of the Year and Wyoming’s Jordan Kelley was named Newcomer of the Year.

Collegian Sports Editor Keegan Pope can be reached at kpope@collegian.com and on Twitter @ByKeeganPope.