Pouncing their way to the top tier of the Mountain West Conference with unexpected speed and athleticism, the BYU women’s basketball team has shown it’s better than the sixth place spot coaches predicted for it before the season started.

The Cougars (15-6, 6-3) are eyeing the conference championship, hungrily pursuing their goal with a strong presence in the backcourt and a team of talented players.

Unlike many teams, BYU doesn’t have a star player. Instead, the Cougars rely on their collective abilities to overcome opponents.

“We’re so well-rounded as a team,” Coriann Wood said. “There’s not just one person that has to show up every night and score all the points. ... We have so many scoring threats that they don’t know who to shut down.”

Returning starter Mindy Bonham has become the Cougars’ leading scorer with 11.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. Jazmine Foreman also returned as a starter from last season, averaging 9.9 points with 3.9 assists per game. First-year starter Kristen Riley puts up 8.5 points and grabs 5.2 rebounds per game.

After sitting out most of the past three seasons with ACL injuries, Haley Hall now starts for the Cougars, scoring 8.9 points per game and dishing out 4.2 assists.

BYU counts on its strong bench this year, with Wood averaging 9.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and Alexis Kaufusi adding an average of  7.3 points and five rebounds.

TCU holds the lead in the MWC with a 7-2 conference record and a one-game lead over BYU, San Diego State and New Mexico.

MWC coaches picked San Diego State as the favorite to win the conference championship, followed by TCU. Before the season began, the coaches picked the Cougars to finish sixth behind Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming.

BYU rose to first in the conference standings after the second week of conference play. The Cougars have stayed between first and third throughout league play.

BYU came into the conference season strong with a seven-game winning streak. The Cougars took out UNLV, Air Force and CSU with little problem, winning by at least nine in each game. Trouble hit when the Cougars’ winning streak came to a halt with a 67-54 loss to Wyoming.

BYU bounced back with a 73-63 win against conference favorite San Diego State in Provo, but hit another bump with a narrow loss to New Mexico. Unfazed, the Cougars slammed Utah with a 69-52 victory in the rivalry game, hoisting BYU into a three-way tie for first with TCU and San Diego State.

The Cougars’ reign at the top of the conference didn’t last long; BYU suffered another setback in the final first-round conference game against TCU, falling 64-40.

“We played very tentatively,” Judkins said. “They were no more aggressive to us than San Diego State. We just handled it a lot better [against SDSU].”

BYU started the second round of conference play with a solid 76-60 win against UNLV to put itself in a second-place tie with San Diego State and New Mexico.

The Cougars’ next game is at  Air Force on Saturday at 2 p.m. BYU-TV will broadcast the game, with live stats and audio at byucougars.com.