LARAMIE, Wyo. (Feb. 14, 2018) – Four Cowgirls finished the night in double-digits to help lead the Wyoming basketball team (17-7 overall, 10-3 MW) to a 20-point win, 70-50, over the San Diego State Aztecs (10-14 overall, 4-9 MW) on Wednesday night.
"It was a little different game tonight. We started out the first five minutes thinking we could throw the ball at the basket and it would go in," head coach
Joe Legerski said. "We talked about after the first five minute segment that you need to get set, have your focus and understand what you are trying to accomplish. I thought we really settled down, played well, made better decisions. We had 20 assists on 27 baskets which tells me we were finding people. We tried a couple of different zone offenses and were able to find our shooters who came through. Taylor (Rusk) came through and gave us a lift, so did Liv (Roberts). When it wasn't going well early, she looked like the calming factor out there. She made a couple of shots and there seemed to be no panic in her. We also got a good lift from our bench. Tijana (Raca) did a good job today. Defensively, we did a good job. It's a tough match-up. They can break you down off the dribble and put a lot of pressure on you."
Senior
Liv Roberts led the way with a game-high 18 points while adding six rebounds in 25 minutes of action. Sophomore
Taylor Rusk finished her night with 17 points with five boards and three assists followed by
Bailee Cotton with 11 points and ten rebounds. Junior
Marta Gomez also chipped in ten points and five assists. UW shot 27-of-57 (.474) from the field and 13-of-27 (.481) from the field. The Cowgirls had 20 assists on 27 baskets and out rebounded the Aztecs, 36-30.
San Diego State was led by senior McKynzie Fort with a team-high 17 points followed by fellow senior Geena Gomez with 11 points and a team-high five rebounds. The Aztecs shot 18-of-53 (.340) from the field and 10-of-13 (.769) from the charity stripe.
It took both teams a few minutes to get on the board with Gomez hitting a shot for the Aztecs and Roberts for the Cowgirls. With the score 6-5 in favor of the Aztecs, SDSU went on a 7-0 run to extend the lead to eight, 13-5. A three by Rusk would end a three minute scoreless stretch and started a 20-0 run over the next several minutes to give UW the double-digit lead, 25-13. One of two free throws by Vanderdoes ended a seven minute scoring drought by San Diego State and started a small run to cut the lead to seven, 25-18. The Cowgirls got the lead back to ten three times, but the Aztecs cut it to six, 32-26, with 40 seconds on the clock. Back to back threes by Raca and Tapia gave UW the 12 point lead, 38-26, headed in to the locker room.
Rusk led all Cowgirl scorers in the first half with nine points followed by Roberts and Gomez with eight. Cotton and Roberts each had three rebounds. UW shot 14-of-31 (.452) from the field and 9-of-17 (.529) from beyond the arc. Fort and Gomez each had nine points for the Aztecs while senior Khalia Lark and Gomez had three rebounds. San Diego State shot 10-of-26 (.385) from the field and out rebounded the Cowgirls, 18-15.
The Cowgirls stormed out in the third quarter by going on a 13-2 run to increase the lead to 23, 51-28, 5:16 left in the third. San Diego State scored ten of the next 16 to make it a 19-point game, 57-38, early in the fourth quarter. Roberts hit back to back jumpers to start a 7-1 run to make it a 25-point advantage, 64-39. Despite being outscored 11-6 down the stretch, Wyoming went on to take the victory, 70-50
The Cowgirls return to action on Saturday against the San Jose State Spartans. The game is set for 3 p.m. MT at The Events Center in San Jose.