LAS VEGAS, Nev. (March 10, 2019) – Senior Bailee Cotton has been named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, it was announced Sunday by the conference office. She also earned all-Conference and all-defensive Team honors. Senior Marta Gomez was named All-Conference, and freshman Karla Erjavec was named to the All-Freshman Team. The awards are voted upon by the leagues head coaches.
 
"We have several principles for our basketball program at Wyoming," said head coach Joe Legerski. "The MW All-Conference selections reminds everyone of a principle we discuss throughout the year. The principle is 'without team success there is no individual success.' The 2018-19 team proved our principle, as we had tremendous team success and the honors followed. I am pleased that Bailee, Marta and Karla have been recognized by the coaches in the Mountain West."
 
Cotton joins Hanna Zavecz and Brenda Pickup as the only two Cowgirls to win Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Honors. It is the first all-conference selection for Cotton and the second all-defensive team honor for the Denver, Colo., native. Throughout the season, Cotton was Wyoming's defensive anchor to guide the Cowgirls to the league's best scoring defense, three point percentage defense and rebounding defense. During MW play, she led the Cowgirls with 19 blocks, 28 steals and 121 defensive rebounds while taking 10 charges. She had five double-doubles in league action and scored a career-high 20 points against UNLV on Jan. 5. In conference games, Cotton averaged 11.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
 
Gomez was Wyoming's leading scorer during conference play, averaging 15.4 points per game. She also pulled down 4.7 rebounds per game. The Valles, Spain, native is arguably the best shooter in the Mountain West, as she shot  55.7 percent from the field, a blistering 47.5 percent from three and 91.5 percent from the free throw line. She's the only player in the Mountain West to be above 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and 90 percent from the free throw line. Gomez scored at least 20 points in six Mountain West games, including a career-high 28 against New Mexico on Jan. 19. She also added two double-doubles against Mountain West foes.
 
Erjavec started every game this season as a freshman and led the team in assists with 101. In Mountain West play, she reached double-figure scoring eight times and had two games with 10 assists. She is the first Cowgirl to have multiple 10-assist games in a season since Marquelle Dent in 2015-16. She also recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists against San Jose State. In league action, Erjavec averaged 9.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and a team-best 4.4 assists per game. She added four blocks and 12 steals on the defensive end, usually earning the task of guarding the opponent's top perimeter threat.
 
The Cowgirls are back in action on Monday, March 11, when they face the winner of tonight's game between Colorado State and Utah State. Monday's game will be at 8:30 p.m (PT).