DENVER, Colo. (Nov. 26, 2021) – Wyoming fought hard Friday afternoon but the second half, especially the third quarter, once again proved to be Wyoming's demise in Denver, as the Cowgirls dropped the opening contest of the DU Pioneer Thanksgiving Classic, 73-67 to Tulane. The Cowgirls were outscored 17-10 in the third quarter Friday and that proved to be the difference in the contest.
The Cowgirls, for at least one half Friday, found their range from 3-point range, shooting 8-of-14 from beyond-the-arc in the first half. UW shot 14-of-32 (43.8 percent) in the first half, but went just 11-for-31 (35.5 percent) in the second half, including going just 4-of-15 in the third quarter.
The game's opening 20 minutes provided a lot of back-and-forth action between the two teams, featuring five ties and five lead changes. Neither team could take control in the first half, with the biggest lead being Tulane up 16-11 with 2:19 to play in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, neither team led by more than three points. The Cowgirls, after trailing late in the second, 31-29, hit three of its final four shots down the stretch of the first half and led 38-35 with just 26 seconds left to play in the quarter. Tulane would beat the buzzer with a layup on the next possession and UW took a 38-37 edge into the break.
The two teams traded buckets to open the second half, before a 7-0 surge from Tulane put the Green Wave out front, 50-43 with under five minutes to play in the third. A Quinn Weidemann 3-pointer with 2:29 to go broke the UW drought and after an Allyson Fertig layup, the deficit was 50-48. After that, Mia Heide got back-to-back hoops for the Green Wave and it led 54-48 after three.
Tulane began the fourth much the way it ended the third quarter, pushing the lead to 59-48 as the Green Wave scored the quarter's first five points. A Fertig layup ended the Green Wave run to open the fourth quarter and two possessions later, Fertig's three-point play the old fashioned way, cut the Cowgirl deficit to 61-53 with 5:48 left in the game.
After a lengthy official's review, Tulane regained its offensive rhythm and went on another mini-run to lengthen its lead to 70-56 with 2:18 left to go in the game. A McKinley Bradshaw layup with 1:02 to play, ended a span where UW missed three consecutive shots and went over two and a half minutes without scoring down the stretch. Bradshaw went on a little scoring run of her own, as she cut the Tulane lead down to 70-62 with just 29 seconds left.
UW would not go quietly however, as a Landri Hudson "and-one", made it 72-65 with 12 seconds left, and then a layup by Emily Mellema off a Tulane turnover, cut the Green Wave lead to just 72-67 and led to a UW timeout with five seconds left to play. Tulane would hang on however, as the late surge was too late for Wyoming.
"Like I just told the kids in the locker room, I kind of thought the way we played today is who we should have been all year," said Head Coach Gerald Mattinson postgame.
"I thought we shot, scored, created and played at a pace and tempo we should have all year. I thought we had a great effort against a really, really good team. We did a great job on their three main scorers, we took them away. But to their credit, those two starters stepped up for them."
The Cowgirls (2-3) got three scorers into double figures Friday and were once again led by Bradshaw, who scored 18 points, while also grabbing a team- and career-high nine boards in the loss. Fertig and Weidemann both added 15 points apiece on the day. The 15 points eclipsed Monday's career-best for Fertig, while the 15 from Weidemann is a season-best for her. Weidemann hit five of the Cowgirls' nine 3-pointers on the day.
For the game, the Cowgirls shot 39.7 percent (25-for-63) overall and went 9-of-23 (39 percent) from beyond-the-arc. The Green Wave meanwhile, shot over 52 percent (30-of-57) overall and went 7-for-15 from 3-point range.
UW, despite getting out-rebounded overall, 37-34 in the game, had a 10-3 edge in offensive boards and had a 15-6 advantage on second-chance points against Tulane. The Cowgirls also had more points in the paint, 32-30, than the Green Wave and had a 20-12 bench scoring advantage.
Wyoming now looks to rebound with a quick turnaround Saturday afternoon as the Cowgirls take on host-Denver at 3:30 p.m., Saturday.
-WYO-