CWC tipped-off their 2024 season with a pair of home games in Rustler Gymnasium on Friday and Saturday of this past week. The Hampton Inn Tip-Off Classic was hosted by CWC and brought in three visiting teams: Salt Lake Community College, Fort Hays Tech Northwest, and Western Nebraska Community College. The Rustlers were in for a difficult first match, as they were slated to take on the 25th NJCAA Division I ranked SLCC Bruins Friday night. 

Personal fouls were the name of this game, with both teams combining to commit 53 total. Although CWC did a better job of converting their free throws (73.3% vs SLCC's 64.3%), the Bruin's unrelenting full-court press also had a major role in this matchup, heavily skewing the turnover battle, 9-27 in SLCC's favor. The persistent pressure allowed SLCC to jump out to a 41-19 lead going into halftime, and Central Wyoming struggled to keep pace with the Bruins in the second half as well, eventually surrendering a final score of 95-41. Esperanza Vergara was the lone double digit scorer for the Rustlers, chipping in 14 points. 

Saturday afternoon's game against Western Nebraska Community College presented another opportunity for Central Wyoming to prove themselves against a full-court press team. Right away the Rustlers struggled to break through WNCC's press, and repetitive turnovers resulted in points for the Cougars as they exploded to a 45-15 lead by the end of the second quarter. Whatever adjustments Central Wyoming made during halftime flipped the script for the Rustlers, who went on to outscore Western Nebraska in the third quarter 22-18, influenced by a hot streak from Laura Ring and a couple three pointers from Katie Walker. Despite this second half surge from CWC, Western Nebraska had six of their eight players score in the double digits, and bested the Rustlers with a final score of 92-47.