LARAMIE, Wyo. (Oct. 27, 2021) – The 2021-22 Wyoming Cowgirls open their season this Friday at 6:30 p.m., inside the Arena-Auditorium for the first of two exhibitions to open the year as they host Colorado Christian.
Friday's contest will be broadcast live on the Mountain West Network and can be heard across the 25 stations of the Cowgirl Radio Network with Keith Kelley on the call. Kelley opens his second season as the voice of Cowgirl Basketball.
A LOOK AT THE COWGIRLS
The defending Mountain West Tournament Champions were selected to finish fifth in the Preseason Mountain West Poll, announced earlier this month, which was voted on by the league's head coaches and selected media.
UW returns a trio of starters from last season's squad in Tommi Olson, Alba Sanchez Ramos and Quinn Weidemann. Both Olson and Weidemann were selected to the Mountain West Tournament's All-Tournament Team with Weidemann being named the tournament's MVP. Weidemann was also selected to the league's All-Defensive Team last season. UW also returns its leading scorer from 2020-21 in McKinley Bradshaw, who averaged 11.7 points per game last season, while mostly coming off the bench for the Cowgirls.
The Cowgirls also return six student-athletes from last year, all of which appeared in at least nine games. Lexi Bull, Grace Ellis, Landri Hudson, Paula Salazar, Marta Savic and Ola Ustowska all return to this season's squad. UW also welcomes three newcomers this season in Tess Barnes (Gisborne, Australia), Allyson Fertig (Glendo, Wyo.) and Emily Mellema (Lynden, Wash.).
Following Friday's exhibition, the Cowgirls have one final tune-up before the regular season begins with their second exhibition game, Friday, November 5 against Colorado-Colorado Springs.
SCOUTING COLORADO CHRISTIAN
Division II Colorado Christian, who plays in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, went 5-13 last season during a conference-only slate. The Cougars return senior Lourdes Gonzalez as their leading returning scorer from last season. Gonzalez was second on the team last year averaging 11.4 points per game, while recording a team-best 7.3 rebounds per game in 2020-21.
CCU returns just five student-athletes from last season, but welcomes in seven transfers to the 2021-22 team. CCU averaged 55.1 points per game last year and allowed opponents to score at a 65.3 per game clip. The Cougars shot just under 36 percent from the field last season and made 27.5 percent of its shots from 3-point range.
SERIES AGAINST COLORADO CHRISTIAN
Although Friday's contest doesn't count towards the all-time records, UW has faced Colorado Christian two previous times during the regular season. Last time against the Cougars, Wyoming won its 2019-20 season-opener in Laramie, 70-31.
Bradshaw made her Cowgirl debut that night, scoring 13 points off the bench on 4-of-8 shooting. UW held CCU to just 26 percent shooting overall in the game, while allowing just nine points in the first half, including a program-record one point, in the second quarter. In the series, Wyoming has averaged 66 points per game, while holding CCU to just 32 points per in the two contests.
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