Colorado State-Wyoming Final Stats | Wyoming Season Stats | Postgame Video
LARAMIE, Wyo. (Feb. 28, 2017) — Behind a season-high 18 points from junior Natalie Baker, the Wyoming women's basketball (20-8 overall, 12-5 MW) reached the 20-win mark with a seven point win, 56-49, over the Colorado State Rams (22-7 overall, 14-3 MW) on Tuesday night. It's the first win for the Cowgirls in the series since Feb. 22, 2014 when they earned a 75-49 victory in Laramie. It's also the eighth time in head coach Joe Legerski's career with 20-plus wins and the fourth time in school history with 12 conference victories.
"The game tonight had so many ebbs and flows to it. It looked like in the first five minutes both teams were having a tough time finding a basket," Legerski said. "It was 5-2 after the first media timeout. Then we started to feel more comfortable against the zone, finding our spots and making a few shots. We knew at halftime defensively we played very well, but knew that the champion Colorado State is, would make a run at you and they did. I thought the biggest thing them making shots, but also their defense picked up. We talked about from the five-minute mark in was being aggressive to the basket. We got down in the shot clock a number of times, which was not what we planned, but if we had the ball Colorado State didn't."
Along with her 18 points, Baker shot 5-9 from the field, 7-9 from the free throw line and brought down four rebounds. Junior Bailee Cotton and sophomore Clara Tapia each added ten points while Cotton finished with a career-high nine rebounds. The Cowgirls shot 19-46 (.413) from the field and out rebounded the Rams 39-26.
"Natalie (Baker) stepped up and made free throws down the stretch which was important for us to finish out this game, plus her drive to the basket late in the game to extend it to nine and give us some breathing room. Bailee (Cotton) probably played her best game all year, with ten points and nine rebounds and had a very difficult defensive assignment. It was a tough match-up for her, but I was really proud of her."
Colorado State was led by senior Elin Gustavsson who finished her night with 14 points and two blocks. She was followed by sophomore Sophie Tryggedsson with 12 points and senior Ellen Nystrom with ten points. Redshirt junior Hannah Tvrdy had seven points and a team-high five boards. The Rams shot 20-55 (.364) from the field and 6-17 (.353) from three.
The Cowgirls hit four straight free throws out of the break to make it an 18-point game, 34-16. Colorado State chipped away at the lead and scored 12 of 18 to cut the deficit to ten, 40-30, with 1:04 left in the third quarter. Over the next five minutes the two teams combined for seven points to make it 45-32 in favor of Wyoming. A three by Tvrdy closed the gap to ten, 45-35, but a three by Tapia pushed it back to 13, 48-35. The Rams continued to battle back and went on a 7-1 run to make it 49-42. A basket and a pair of free throws ended the scoreless stretch and increased the advantage back to nine 53-44 with under a minute to go. Tryggedsson was fouled behind the arc and made it a six point contest, 53-47. Wyoming was able to clamp down defensively and hit three of four free throws down the stretch to earn the 56-49 win.
It took the two teams a while to get on the scoreboard until a floater by senior Hailey Ligocki at the 6:50 mark got the Cowgirls on the board. Nystrom scored at the 5:47 mark for Colorado State. A three by Baker gave Wyoming a 5-2 lead through the first media timeout. After a score by CSU, the Cowgirls scored the next 19 unanswered to take a 20 point lead, 24-4. Gustavsson scored the next eight straight to end an almost nine-minute scoreless skid for Colorado State to pull within 12, 26-14. The Cowgirls scored the final four of six to take a 30-14 lead in to the locker room.
Sophomore Marta Gomez led all Cowgirl scorers with seven along with three rebounds and assists. Cotton and freshman Selale Kepenc had six points and four boards while Cotton added four rebounds. The Cowgirls were 13-25 (.520) from the field and out rebounded the Rams, 20-9. Colorado State was led by Gustavsson with 12 points and two blocked shots. CSU was 7-24 (.292) from the field and 2-7 (.286) from three.
Wyoming will close out the regular conference season on Friday night against the San Jose Spartans. The game is set for 8:00 p.m. MT at the Event Center in San Jose.
