LARAMIE, Wyo. (September 24, 2019) – The University of Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team will take to the court for its first official practice of the 2019-20 season on Wednesday. The Cowgirls return two starters and nine letterwinners from last year's team that went 25-9 overall and 13-5 in league action.
 
"We are really excited to get going on this season," said first year head coach Gerald Mattinson. "This is a young group, and we're ready to see what we have. We'll use these practices to get our new players into our system and our veterans ready for another year."
 
Mattinson is starting his first year at the helm of the Cowgirls following a 16 year stint as an assistant coach and an associate head coach under former head coach Joe Legerski. Mattinson has been on the Wyoming bench for the most successful tenure of Cowgirl basketball.
 
The pair of starters returning for UW are senior Taylor Rusk and sophomore Karla Erjavec. Rusk enters the year just 155 points shy of 1,000 for her career, and 46 assists shy of 300 for her career. She would become just the fifth Cowgirl to have both 1,000 points and 300 assists in a career, joining Marquelle Dent, Hanna Zavecz, Ashley Elliott and Christine Fairless. Last season, Rusk averaged 9.1 points and 3.2 assists per game while collecting 3.4 rebounds per contest.
 
Erjavec earned a spot on the Mountain West All-Freshman team last season after averaging 8.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Erjavec totaled 124 assists on the year to lead UW, and it was a Cowgirl freshman record for assists in a season. Erjavec had a double-double last season with 10 points and 10 assists against San José State, and scored a career-high 19 points in the Women's National Invitation Tournament against South Alabama.
 
Other returning Cowgirls that saw action last season include sophomore Quinn Weidemann, sophomore Tereza Vitulova, sophomore Alba Sanchez Ramos, senior Elisa Pilli and sophomore Tommi Olson.
 
Weidemann chipped in 6.6 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists last season while shooting a blistering 42.6 percent (46-108) from three-point range last season. She had 12 games with multiple three-point makes, including making seven threes against UNLV on her way to a career-high 24 points.
 
Vitulova was a strong presence in the post as a freshman, converting 51.1 percent of her two-point shots while scoring 4.7 points per game and pulling down 2.0 rebounds per contest. She had five games in double-digit points, and played meaningful minutes during Wyoming's postseason run.
 
Sanchez Ramos saw the floor in seven contests last season, scoring 5.0 points and collecting 0.4 rebounds per game. A great shooter, she converted 52.2 percent (12-23) of her shots and 46.7 percent (7-15) of her threes. Olson played in 11 games last year, averaging 0.3 points, 0.6 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. She collected six steals against UC-Colorado Springs in one of the strongest defensive outings by a Cowgirl last season. Pilli played in eight games and scored 1.9 points per game on 50.0 percent (5-10) shooting from the field. She went a perfect 3-3 from the floor against San José State on her way to a career-high eight points.
 
Wyoming will also bring back redshirt junior Selale Kepenc and senior Coreen Labish, both of whom were injured last season. Two years ago, Kepenc played in 25 games and averaged 3.5 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. Labish saw action in three contests and pulled down 1.0 rebounds per game.
 
The returners are joined by five newcomers, including a pair of junior college transfers in Jaye Johnson and Emily Buchanan. Johnson played the last two seasons at Casper College, where she played in 65 games with 33 starts. Last year, she averaged 11.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, reaching double-digit scoring 21 times. Buchanan joins the Cowgirls by way of Eastern Wyoming, where she played in 64 games with 32 starts. She averaged 17.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game a year ago and reached double-figure scoring in all but two games.
 
The Cowgirls have a trio of incoming freshman in McKinley Bradshaw, Paige Powell and Jaeden Vaifanua. Bradshaw averaged 17.5 points, 5.3 steals, 3.4 assists, 7.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game as a senior for Lyman High School. As a junior, she was the Wyoming Gatorade Player of the Year. Powell spent her senior season at Cody High School, and she put up 13.4 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 3.5 blocks and 2.5 steals per game. Vaifanua competed at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah, and averaged 17.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.8 blocks and 2.0 steals per game.
 
The Cowgirls host an exhibition game against Adams State on Friday, Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. Then, Wyoming officially begins the season by hosting Colorado Christian on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium.
 
Season tickets are now available for Cowgirl basketball. Prices for season tickets are $130 for the public, $100 for faculty and staff and just $70 for kids. Fans are able to pick their own seats, and four-month payment plans are available.
 
Fans interested in season tickets can call the ticket office at (307) 766-7220, visit gowyo.com/tickets or stop by the ticket office located at the Willet West entrance of the Arena-Auditorium Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.