LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 21, 2017) – The Wyoming basketball team (4-0 overall) remained undefeated on the season with a 75-61 victory over the Drake Bulldogs (2-2 overall) on Tuesday night.
Four Cowgirls finished the night in double-figures led by senior
Liv Roberts and junior
Marta Gomez. Roberts finished her night with 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds as did Gomez with 16 points while shooting 4-of-6 (.667) from three. Sophomore
Taylor Rusk recorded a career-high 15 points and three steals, while junior
Sladjana Rakovic chipped in ten points. Wyoming shot 27-of-60 (.450) from the field and a season-high 14-of-32 (.438) from beyond the arc. UW out rebounded Drake 32-28 and had 18 assists on 27 baskets.
"We knew coming in to tonight that the pace of the game was going to be quick. Drake likes to attack. We knew that we had to push the basketball so we didn't have to play against their match-up zone," head coach
Joe Legerski. "The pace was there. They can shoot three's and we can shoot three's. I thought the first half was one were everyone executed on both sides of the ball at a high level. At halftime, we talked about and the adjustment we made were taking away the three-point shot since they were 6-of-10 in the first and you can't let teams do that. I felt we kept our pace offensively and our defense stepped up in the third quarter. It was then about managing in the final four or five minutes. It was a great effort tonight, but that was a good team that we ended up getting a victory against."
The Bulldogs were led by sophomore Becca Hittner who had a game-high 17 points along with four rebounds. Junior Sammie Bachrodt and sophomore Brenni Rose each chipped in 11 points while redshirt junior Becca Jonas had a team-high five rebounds. Drake was 24-of-48 (.500) from the field and 6-of-18 (.333) from beyond the arc, including 0-of-8 (.000) in the final two quarters.
Out of the break, Drake cut the deficit to three making it 36-33. The Cowgirls answered with a 16-4 run including a seven straight to push the lead to double-digits, 52-37. A basket by Hittner ended a scoring drought for the Bulldogs and they hit the next two baskets to close it to 11, 52-41, with 2:38 remaining in the third. Over the next six minute stretch, the Cowgirls outscored Drake 16-4 to extend the lead to 23, 68-45. DU continued to battle but only managed to close the gap to 14 which ended up being the margin at the end with the final of 75-61.
Wyoming hit two early three point shots and a layup by junior
Clara Tapia put the Cowgirls up 8-3. The Bulldogs scored four straight to make it 8-7 through the first media timeout. Drake responded with a 9-5 run to take its first lead of the game, 16-13. With time running down in the period, Tapia hit a three to tie it up at 16. The Cowgirls would score the next seven of nine to go up five, 23-18, but the Bulldogs strung a 10-2 run together to regain a one point lead, 26-25. UW closed out the period scoring 11 of 16 to take a five point lead, 36-31, in to the locker room.
Rusk led all Cowgirl scorers with nine followed by Gomez off the bench with eight. Roberts was the leading rebounder for the Cowgirls with three. Wyoming shot 14-of-30 (.467) from the field and 8-of-15 (.533) from beyond the arc. Drake was led by Hittner and Bachrodt with nine points each while Jonas brought down four boards. The Bulldogs were 12-of-22 (.545) from the field and 6-of-10 (.600) from three.
The Wyoming women's basketball team returns to action following the break to participate in the Central Florida Thanksgiving Classic, on Saturday and Sunday. The Cowgirls will face the Northern Iowa Panthers followed by a match-up with the IUPUI Jaguars. Saturday's game is scheduled for a 10 a.m. MT start followed by a 9 a.m. start on Sunday in Orlando.